tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 17 12:55:14 1998

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Re: pab mu'mey

At 10:47 AM 4/17/98 -0700, Voragh wrote:
[...]
>Although {lIw} is perfect by itself in a grammatical context, I suppose you
>could also say *{lIw DIp} - or even *{lIwDIp}! - for "a stand-in noun".  
>

Shouldn't that be {DIp lIw}?

>What we really need is a word for "adverbial".
>

What we need first is a definition of 'adverbial' in Klingon.  It seems
to me somewhat different than our English definition.  You can't just
call them {chuvmey}, because not all Klingon adverbial forms are
{chuvmey}.

 My Webster's defines an adverb as a word which modifies a verb, adjective
or phrase, "expressing manner, quality, place, time, degree, number, cause,
opposition, affirmation or denial".

I can think of 4 different Klingon formations that function adverbially:

1. The common {chuvmey}, which we might think of as 'true' adverbs, such
as {nom}, {pIj}, {ghaytan}, etc.  But how about words like {jay'}, which
might express degree, or {rIntaH}, which might express manner?

2. Time stamps.  These are simply nouns or noun phrases, their adverbial
function indicated only by position and their lack of a Type 5 noun suffix.
I'm wondering about duration stamps, which typically take a verb phrase
with {-taHvIS}.  Are these adverbials?  If they are, is _any_ dependent
verb phrase (*{mu'tlheghHom rInbe'}?) a type of adverbial?

3. Location stamps.  These take the locative suffix {-Daq}.  How about
when {-Daq} is used with a motion verb?  Is it still adverbial?  Is a
phrase with {-vo'} an adverbial?  Is _any_ noun with a Type 5
suffix an adverbial?

4. Various suffixes, like {-qu'}, {-Ha'}, even {-be'} and {-Qo'}.  I'm 
assuming that these are not what we mean when we refer to adverbials, since
they are not separate words.

So, even if we had a word for 'adverbial', there could be a lot of questions
about exactly what it refers to.


-- ter'eS


http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2711

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