tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 25 20:40:05 1997

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RE: KLBC: "tu'lu'" with plurals

jatlh qoror:

> 	I have a question.  When "tu'lu'" is used with plurals, shouldn't it be
> "lutu'lu'?" Or has it evolved into a relatively independent term?

Wow!  I had a premonition today that someone would ask this very question!  
Forget psychic VCR's!

Yes, we believe that {tu'lu'} is a semi-independent verb.  After all, in the 
very first example for it, which is meant to illustrate its use, we see 
{puqpu' tu'lu'}.

There's also:

naDev tlhInganpu' tu'lu'   (TKD Appendix)

DuQwI' Hommey jej tu'lu'   (Skybox card SP2)

DujvamDaq tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS  (Skybox card S7)
(This one is translated by Okrand as "It [the K'Vort class Pagh] has the best 
weapons.")

We know that {tu'lu'} acts like any other verb, because it can take suffixes:

qabwIjDaq Soj tu'lu'bej   (CK)

SuvwI'pu' qan tu'lu'be'   (TKW)
(Notice that if you think of this as {tu'} + {-lu'}, you're negating {-lu'}, 
which doesn't seem to make any sense.  However, if {tu'lu'} is a distinct 
verb, then you're negating this verb.)

We also know that {tu'lu'} can also act as {tu'} + {-lu'}:

QuvlIjDaq yIH tu'be'lu'jaj   (PK)
(Admittedly, this is a toast, and is possibly subject to special grammatical 
rules.  If that's what is happening here, it's rather funny: the special 
grammatical rules are making the sentence look almost like what it is supposed 
to be!)

Finally, we can even use it in a sentence-as-object, although the rules of 
Klingon require us to change its form a bit:

Qu'vaD lI' net tu'bej   (ST3)

Oh, this wasn't every instance of {tu'} or {tu'lu'}.  There are some others 
which are similar to the ones I've quoted here.  However, I don't believe Mark 
Okrand has ever used {lutu'lu'}.  I cannot find any such reference.  If you 
use it, it will be logically correct, but since we don't see it, I suspect it 
may not be used.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97232.4

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