tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 09 18:19:35 2004
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Re: joj usage...
- From: "QeS lagh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: joj usage...
- Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 11:18:56 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' marqoS:
>Except that syntactically the spatial relationship construct seems to be
>a noun-noun construction, with the implied genitive relationship. Are
>you saying that you can always replace the first noun in a noun-noun
>construct with a pronoun? If so, then why do we even need possessive
>suffixes?
There's one example I can think of where the two actually do contrast. When
using the directional nouns {chan}, {'ev} and {tIng}, saying <directional
noun + possessive suffix> is a neutral construct, whereas <pronoun +
directional noun> puts emphasis on the speaker's location. Here's an excerpt
from a message from Okrand to alt.startrek.klingon:
"It is also possible (though the Sakrej folks tend not to do this) to use
the full pronoun plus locative noun construction with the directional nouns:
<jIH chan> "east of me" (literally "I area eastward") (<jIH> "I"). There is
a slight meaning difference between <jIH chan>, using the full pronoun, and
<chanwIj>, using the possessive suffix, however. The construction with the
full pronoun emphasizes the pronoun (in this case "I," the speaker
him/herself) as the reference point; the construction with the pronominal
suffix is more neutral. Thus, <chanwIj> is "east of me, east of where I am,
east of here," but <jIH chan> is "east of ME, to MY east." (Marc Okrand,
startrek.klingon, 1 Dec 1999)
And as SuStel said, Klingon's not meant to be necessarily logical; it isn't
Vulcan. We can say {pengmey} for a plural of {peng}; why do we need {cha}?
Because {cha} is the plural of {peng} (and because {pengmey} has a slightly
different connotation); that's how it works.
Savan.
QeS lagh
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