tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 12 12:11:16 2004

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Re: jIH/SoH in comparatives

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

lay'tel SIvten wrote:
> > qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS.
> > You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy.  [ST5, HQ v8n4p12]
> >
> > jIH Doy' law' SoH Doy' puS
> > I am more tired than you are.  [HQ v13n1p10]
>
> > ever used something like {bItIn law' jItIn puS} instead of {SoH tIn law'
> > jIH tIn puS}?

Quvar:
>I think this only works because pronouns can function like nouns, but
>"bItIn" is a verb.

I checked my notes and Quvar and the others who've answered are 
correct:  In the {A Q law' B Q puS} formula, A and B have to be 
nouns.  Okrand communicated privately with members of the Klingon 
Shakespeare Restoration Project (KSRP) that pronouns, being a subset of 
nouns, could indeed be used with stative verbs.  The example Okrand 
provided was {SoH po' law' jIH po' puS}.  (See HolQeD 4.2:3 for details.)

lay'tel's examples are of pronouns *as pronouns*, not pronouns-as-verbs; 
you can tell because there's no noun complement in the predicate.  (E.g. 
the noun {tlhIngan} in the sentence {tlhIngan jIH}.)

Now, you can certainly modify the noun in the A and B slot with a verb, 
either with {-vIS} in this old, and somewhat anomalous example (lacking as 
it does {taH}):

   QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS
   Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. ST6
   "death while standing is preferable to life while kneeling"

or even as part of a relative {-bogh} verb phrase in this complicated 
example with two comparatives:

   DujvamDaq tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS 'ej DujvamDaq
    'op SuvwI' tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo' SuvwI' law' po' puS
   It [IKV Pagh] has the best weapons and some of the finest warriors in
    the Klingon fleet. S7

but you cannot use a conjugated verb in place of the noun.

lay'tel's ST5 example looks like it might well be a pronoun-as-verb, but on 
closer inspection it isn't.  {qIbDaq SuvwI''e'} is not in the A slot, i.e.

   *<qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH> Dun law' Hoch Dun puS

but, rather, is an introductory phrase for the entire comparative:

   <qIbDaq SuvwI''e'> SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS.
   "<WRT warrior(s) in the galaxy> you are the greatest of all.

We've seen several examples of noun and verb phrases preceding the 
comparative {A Q law' B Q puS} formula, in fact.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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