tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 20 22:21:06 1994

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Re: law'/puS

Ami asks:
...[In a comparative constuction:]
> >Is it possible to have more than one adjectival verb on a noun?
 
~mark replies
...
> This question has come up once or twice before here, though there was
> surprisingly little debate for this forum.  Last I recall, people were
> generally in favor of it.  It makes a lot of sense to me, sort of taking
> "N V" as a noun phrase and adding another adjectival verb after it.  I
> would accept something like "Duj tIn SuD" for "large green ship".  I recall
> that Krankor also supports it, if you'll trust my demonstrably faulty
> memory.

chargwI' adds:
     My one comment on this is that in the {A B law' C B puS} construction,
if you have more than one adjectival verb, does the {law'} and {puS} refer
just to the last one, or to both? My gut reaction says it should only apply
to the latter verb. Why? Consider:

               Duj tIn SuD law' nagh tIn SuD puS

     I think this should mean, "The big ship is greener than the big rock." I
do NOT think it should mean, "The ship is bigger and greener than the rock."
For the latter meaning, I'd suggest the conservative:

        Duj tIn law' nagh tIn puS 'ej Duj SuD law' nagh SuD puS

     or the somewhat more adventurous:

              Duj tIn 'ej SuD law' nagh tIn 'ej SuD puS

     What think others?

charghwI'

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