tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 14 20:27:37 1998
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Re: QoghIj qaD
mujang charghwI':
>> "I want to buy what?"
>
>Right. You are Jewish. Only a Jew or someone speaking with a
>Jewish accent can naturally say, "This is a question?" (<<:)>
>
>I can't say, "I want to buy what?" without a Jewish accent.
I can hear what you're saying, but that's not the way I intend it.
In fact, when I try to imagine someone saying it, I hear Professor
Henry Higgins from "My Fair Lady" using his proper British voice.
"I want to buy...what?"
It only seems a little odd in English, where that phrasing has gone
out of favor for questions and the phrasing with the word "do" has
become the standard.
>...Yes, it's a question-as-object, but
>> it's one that follows the rules for the use of interrogatives.
>
>Well, it does so no more than any other QAO. The real object
>once again is not the question, but the answer to the question.
Look again, please. This is not a "I know what I bought" kind of
relative pronoun meaning. This is a real question. This is the
statement "I want to buy something" with the word "something"
crossed out and the word "what" written in in crayon. The noun
is replaced with a noun-like question word in order to ask what
I want to buy.
>I still think the object of the second verb is the answer to the
>question and not the question itself, and I still think that
>ignores the limits of SAO. I don't think it works.
I don't see it that way at all. The object of {neH} is the whole
sentence {nuq vIje'}. If I said {vay' vIje' vIneH} you would have
no problem with it, right? The object of the second verb is not
the word {vay'}, it's the first sentence itself. Now turn it into
a question by replacing one of the nouns with {nuq}. pItlh! No
pesky relative pronouns hiding here, no sir. All nice and normal
according to TKD 6.4, with the question word {nuq} fitting into the
sentence in the position that would be occupied by the answer.
-- ghunchu'wI'