tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 28 14:42:27 2006
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Re: "conjunction"?
Paul wrote:
>On Thu, 28 Dec 2006, H Myers wrote:
>/qontaH/ and /ngevtaH/ are both verbs; /je/ is used as a conjunction only
>for nouns... You probably wanted something like /ghItlhmey qontaH 'ej
>ngevtaH/.
>
>Interesting question, though -- how would I say all that in tlhIngan Hol?
>I think there's a new grammatical term for our wiki page -- "conjunction".
>I'm thinking maybe something like /rarwI'/ "connector"... although I
>could be sold on something a bit more explicity, like /mu'tlhegh
>muvmoHbogh mu''e'/ "word which joins sentences" (as opposed to /DIp
>muvmoHbogh mu''e'/ "word which joins nouns")...
*{rarwI'} "connector" works. I've also seen it used for "connection",
"attachment", "fastener" and "link" (i.e. a URL or hotlink). Nowadays I
prefer "purpose nouns" - *{rarmeH mu'} - which can also be qualifeed with
{mu'tlhegh} or {DIpmey} accordingly. Another option is using {muv} "join"
- {muvmeH mu'}. ({muvwI'} however already means "suture".) The latter
might be contrasted with *{chevmeH mu'} a "separator" (i.e. a contrastive
conjunction) - e.g. {'ej} vs. {'ach}.
>wot bIHtaH <<qontaH>>, <<ngevtaH>> je.
>/qontaH/ and /ngevtaH/ are verbs.
The subject of a pronoun-as-verb has to be tagged with {-'e'}. It's one of
those "just because" rules. If there's more than one subject, {-'e'} is
repeated:
Paramount Pictures malja' permey bIH Star Trek pong'e' Deghmey'e' je
"Star Trek" and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures.
(Copyright)
Also, although it's not explicitly stated anywhere, PRONOUN + {-taH} seems
to mean "to be (located)". (This is what I like to call an "undocumented
feature" of the language.) There are several examples of the
pa'wIjDaq jIHtaH
I am in my quarters. TKD
pa'DajDaq ghaHtaH la''e'
The commander is in his quarters. TKD
variety. If interested, I can provide all the other examples I have. N.B.
Curiously, PRONOUN + {-taH} is *never* used with {nuqDaq} "where" in
pronoun-as-verb sentences. We have five examples of this:
nuqDaq 'oH Qe' QaQ'e'
Where is a good restaurant? TKD
nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'
Where is the bathroom? TKD
nuqDaq 'oH jengva''e'
Where is the plate? KGT
nuqDaq 'oH ngop'e'
Where are the plates? KGT
nuqDaq bIH
[Where are they? (untranslated)] ST6
So all together:
wot bIH <<qontaH>>'e' <<ngevtaH>>'e' je.
/qontaH/ and /ngevtaH/ are verbs.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons