tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 19 17:10:51 1997
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
RE: The {nuq} of Earl
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: The {nuq} of Earl
- Date: Mon, 20 Jan 97 01:00:27 UT
January 19, 1997 1:20 PM EST, jatlh torroS:
> 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"?
No. "Your tea" MUST be {DarghlIj}. This is actually in interesting way to
suggest that {nuq} cannot modify another noun. Since it is, in a way, a
pronoun (although not classified as such according to Okrand in TKD), it might
have to act like other pronouns in this respect, and there isn't any "question
suffix" for "What?" or "Who?"
> 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?
We don't have any canon, but we also don't have any rule telling us that {nuq}
can modify a noun. Sometimes it's just taking the place of another modifying
noun, but not always ({Dargh wIb vIneH}). Really, what's going on here is
that {nuq} is trying to modify a noun, and it's not said anywhere that this
can be done.
> 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'?}?
Yes, this is grammatical. The question remains, if Klingon is geared toward
commanding rather than questioning, why do you want to twist the language into
doing something it's not good at?
> 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?
Yes, this is grammatical, too.
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97054.2