tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 17 01:16:15 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
relative clause problems (was: Re: KLBC: -bogh)
- From: "A.Appleyard" <[email protected]>
- Subject: relative clause problems (was: Re: KLBC: -bogh)
- Date: Fri, 17 Mar 1995 09:14:19 GMT
- Priority: normal
ghItlhpu' Riku Anttila <[email protected]># (Subject: KLBC: -bogh#):-
> ... I read again TKD p.64 where it says "The whole construction (relative
> clause plus head noun), as a unit, is used in a sentence as noun." I take
> {puq'e' qIppu'bogh yaS} as a noun and apply -vaD to the end. To me this
> sounds weird, but perhaps I just need to get used to this. If it vas only
> {puq qIppu'bogh}, would I indeed say {puq qIppu'boghvaD Hergh vInob} for "I
> give medicine for the child whom he/she hit."? Yes? What if I were giving
> medicine for the officer who hit the child? {puq qIppu'bogh yaS'e'vaD Hergh
> vInob}?? So, how is this done? IS this done? How would you do it?
As I said before, in some constructions you will likely have to do what
Swahili did in such constructions when it had only its Klingon-style relative
inflection for the relative clause's verb before its modern European-style
relative pronoun {amba} came in: make two sentences out of it: "I gave
medicine for the officer who hit the child" = {puq qIppu'bogh yaS: yaSvetlhvaD
Hergh vInob}. In another possible solution **{puq qIppu'bogh yaS: ghaHvaD
Hergh vInob} the pronoun `ghaH' would be ambiguous in reference, but we would
get away with it in e.g. {targh qIppu'bogh yaS: ghaHvaD Hergh vInob}.
Also, putting a subordinate clause inside another rather than at one end of
it causes unclearness.
In {puq qIppu'bogh yaS'e'vaD Hergh vInob}, to show that the {-vaD} applies
in the main clause and not inside the relative clause, what you really seem to
need is { ( puq qIppu'bogh yaS'e' ) -vaD Hergh vInob}. I suppose some speakers
may try to sort out the ambiguity by hesitating before the {-vaD}, or (like
English etc do) inserting a surplus {'e'} = "that, the abovementioned"
(pronoun) to mean "the preceding clause as a whole": {puq qIppu'bogh yaS'e'
'e'vaD Hergh vInob}.