tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 02 10:27:42 2006

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Re: Questions in tlhIngan syntax (II) Double superlatives???

MorphemeAddict ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol taghwI']

In a message dated 6/2/2006 10:39:15 AM Central Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:

> >Could this possibly be an example of a tlhIngan "double superlative?"
> 
> I've never heard of double superlatives.  What is the difference between 
> "boldest of all" and "most boldest of all"?  To me both the English and 
> Klingon sound ungrammatical or - for the descriptive linguists - uneducated.
> 
> >Second, if this is grammatically correct, what is the semantic meaning of
> >it?
> 
> AFAIK our only example of a suffix placed on {law'} in the comparative 
> formula is:
> 
>    QuchlIj vIl law'be' QuchwIj vIl puSbe'
>    your forehead isn't ridgier than my forehead (HQ 13.1:10)
> 
> Note that {-be'} appears on *both* {law'} and {puS}.  I imagine you would 
> do the same with {-qu'}.
> 
> The usual way to refine {law'/puS} comparisons is not to add suffixes but, 
> as we've seen, to substitute different qualities for one or both 
> terms.


In all of these examples, it's the {law'/puS} pair that is modified, not the 
verb of quality, which is the same in each half of the construction.
I couldn't find any examples of the verb of quality having a suffix.

lay'tel SIvten

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