tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 15 23:11:22 2006

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Re: easy question

QeS 'utlh ([email protected])



jIja'pu':
>To me, {negh} strikes me as collective: "a group of soldiers", maybe. {loS 
>negh} sounds odd, and if it meant anything at all, I would interpret
>it as "four groups of soldiers" or something similar. And anyway, since 
>plural marking is optional on a noun after a number, {loS mang} avoids
>the problem entirely.

mujang lay'tel SIvten, ja':
>If {negh} can be used with numbers, then it can be used with {wa'}, making 
>it singular, which conflicts with its inherent plural meaning, even though 
>grammatically it is singular.

That's a good way of putting it, although just because a word can be used 
with numbers doesn't necessarily mean you can use it with *every* number. 
(Take English, for instance: you can say "two oxen", but that doesn't mean 
you can say *"one oxen".)

QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
     - Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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