tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Oct 30 20:01:42 1998
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Re: KLBC: -ghach
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: -ghach
- Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 20:05:24 -0500
From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
>Kryntes wrote:
>
>: Can -ghach be used with all verbs
>So the short version is: Only attach /-ghach/ to a verbal suffix - any
verbal
>suffix - never to the bare verb. AFAIK, you can do this to all verbs. But
>(you knew there had to be a "but"), based on the corpus it appears that
>abstract derived /-ghach/ nouns are VERY rare in Klingon and are used far
less
>than in a noun-centered language like English. Use them sparingly, if at
>all.
One way to limit yourself, and to keep with apparent Klingon usage, is to
only use {-ghach} on verbs which have a noun counterpart. All of the
examples of {-ghach} that Okrand has used, except one ({tlhutlhtaHghach}),
have a noun counterpart.
Since there are a limited number of noun/verb pairs, you won't be tempted to
overuse {-ghach}. Furthermore, you will be doing what {-ghach} seems
designed for. Consider: {quv} is a noun meaning "honor." There is no way
to make a noun which means "dishonor," until you consider {-ghach}. To make
this noun, you take the verb version of the word, {quv} "be honored," add
the appropriate verb suffix which carries the meaning you're looking for
({quvHa'} "be dishonored"), and then "nounify" it again by adding a suffix,
{-ghach}. {quvHa'ghach} "dishonor."
Note that unless {tlhutlhtaHghach} is an exceptional word, this is not a
rule. Still, since every single other example of a {-ghach}'d verb follows
this pattern, and we have quite a number of {-ghach} words in observable
usage, it's probably a good bet that the noun/verb pairs are favored by
Klingons for {-ghach} usage.
Here's an interesting one:
novHa'ghach
belongingness
SuStel
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