tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 19 10:12:39 1997
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The {nuq} of Earl
- From: Thornton Rose <[email protected]>
- Subject: The {nuq} of Earl
- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 11:23:38 -0600
I thought that I had {nuq} in my grasp, but I lost it. I am still
puzzled its proper use. In the discussion of the question "What kind of
tea do you want?" (Subj: Tea for two), I said:
>Now, sometimes I just start with the question "What kind of tea do you
>want?", because I know the answer is going to be "yes". In tlhIngan Hol
>I want to say:
> nuq Dargh DaneH?
>
>I have read on the list, though, that I can't use {nuq} followed by a
>noun. I don't understand why that is the case. TKD defines {nuq} as
>
> nuq what? (ques)
>
>and in "6.4. Questions" says
>
> For 'Iv "who?" and nuq "what?" the question word fits into the
> sentence in the position that would be occupied by the answer.
To this, ~mark responded:
>Indeed. Which would imply that "nuq Dargh DaneH" is asking "What's tea do
>you want?" or "You want the tea of what?" Not quite what you mean either.
Yes, this is not quite what I mean. However, it leads me to some questions:
1. If {nuq Dargh ...} can be interpeted as "what's tea ..." or "tea of
what...", does this imply that {nuq Dargh} works like a noun-noun construction,
even though it is a pronoun-noun construction, and, if so, could {SoH Dargh} be
interpreted as "your tea" or "tea of you"?
2. Is {nuq Dargh DaneH?} improper because we know that we cannot use {nuq} in
this way (i.e. like "what/which" in English), or because we don't have any canon
that shows us that we can use it in this way?
3. I received {majQa'} from SuStel for recasting the question as {Dargh Segh
yIwIv.}. But, if I really want to ask, could I ask {Dargh DaneHbogh 'oH nuq'e'?}?
4. Suppose I want to be very sarcastic with another warrior (dangerous, I know)
and really want to do it in the form of a question, how would I say "What is
the temperature of your blood?"? {'IwlIj Hat 'oH nuq'e'?}, perhaps?
-- torroS