tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 15 05:06:44 2012

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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] nuq bop bom: 'ay' cha'vatlh cha'maH cha': 'omwI'pu'

De'vID ([email protected])



Qov:
>> jatlh ghutar, "Hu'tegh! qImyal QaS le' ghaH.[261]
>> [261] Still can't quite believe I'm supposed to use ghaH for two guys just
>> because troops is grammatically singular. Grumble.

ghunchu'wI':
> {QaS} is singular, but might it be singular in the way {qorDu'} is?
> Would it work to say {QaS 'oH} instead of {QaS ghaH}? Try it in
> English: "Yikes! It's the Swiss Guard!"

I had the same thought: do we know what is the correct pronoun for
{QaS} (when referring to more than one troop) -- {'oH} or {ghaH}?
Troops are (typically) beings capable of language, but a group of them
is a collection which is not itself a being capable of language.

("It" sort of works in English too: "What is this battalion here?" "It
is K'Myal's troops" (referring to them collectively), rather than
"They are K'Myal's troops."  Not that that means anything when it
comes to whether the same thing works in Klingon.)

Do we have examples of grammatically singular pronouns being used to
refer to collective noun for a group of beings?  The ones from KGT
p.33 use {cha} and {ngop}, neither of which is a being.

-- 
De'vID

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