tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Sep 19 06:51:41 1997

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relative clause markers (was Re: Ha'DIbaHmey)

ja' peHruS mIS:
>I have been told repeatedly that we cannot use {nuq} ro any other Klingon
>question word as a relative clause marker.  Thus, we might say {Doch
>vIghajbogh....} but not the abovementioned {...nuq vIghajbogh...}.

The warnings are against using question words *as* relative clause 
markers.  You seem to have misunderstood them as prohibiting the use 
of question words *with* relative clauses.  {nuq vIghajbogh} seems to
be a grammatically correct phrase; the suffix {-bogh} on the verb is 
what makes it a relative clause.

Whether it says what the author intends is another matter entirely. 
For example, {nuq vIghajbogh vISovbe'} means something like "What 
don't I know which is in my possession?"  {nuq} is still a questioning
pronoun, not a relative one.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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