tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 03 14:46:20 1996
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Re: suffix-o-mania
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: suffix-o-mania
- Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 17:45:54 -0400 ()
- Priority: NORMAL
On Sun, 2 Jun 1996 11:07:35 -0700 Robyn Stewart
<[email protected]> wrote:
> To reinforce my knowledge of rules, I remember examples that use the
> rules. Last night I concocted the pathological sentence:
>
> yIHHommeyna'wIjvo' HIchevnISQo'neS jIDub'eghqanqqa'moHlaHbejtaHneSmo'
>
> "Please, you mustn't separate me from my true little tribbles, as I am
> willing and able to once more make myself go on definitely improving,
> your honour."
>
> Now I realize that anyone uttering such a sentence should be
> immediately executed, along with all his tribbles, on the basis of
> the sentence alone, but this is fun. What's the most *intelligible*
> nine-suffix verb we can build?
There was a contest in one of the first HolQeD issues to this effect. I got honorable
mention, I believe, but didn't nearly win. Meanwhile, YOUR sentence is not exactly
intelligible. The word order bothers me in that anything with {-mo'} works better at the
beginning of a sentence than at the end. As a noun suffix, it is grammatically required,
and the noun and verb suffixes {-mo'} are so similar that it really feels better to have
verb phrases with {-mo'} come before the main verb.
Combining {-nIS} with an imperitive really doesn't cut it with me. Also {-neS} doesn't make
sense applied to any verb other than the main verb in a sentence.
Your task is ambitious. It still needs work, however.
> wovwI'
charghwI'