tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 25 03:09:46 1998

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Re: suffixes in comparative sentences

  Anthony Appleyard wrote:
> In my absence, has a solution to this query been worked out?:- ...
> :   But where do mood-altering suffixes go in comparative sentences? ...

  Steven Boozer <[email protected]> replied:-
> maSovbe'taH jay'! We still don't know where ... verbal suffixes are added
> ...  Personally, I think the way to say "My ship is obviously bigger than
> Maltz's" is *{DujwIj tIn law'ba' matlh Duj tIn puS} ...

  "ship-my's big[ness] is_many_obviously, Maltz's ship's big[ness] is_few"

> ... we cannot say *{A Q law'be' B Q puS} "A is not Q-er than B".

  i.e. **{DujwIj tIn law'be' matlh Duj tIn puS}, because it would analyse to
"my ship's bigness is not many, Maltz's ship's bigness is few". But try
{DujwIj tIn law'be' matlh Duj tIn puSbe'}? Perhaps the verb suffixes should
ideally go on the {law'} <and> on the {puS}, but with some sufflxes (e.g.
{-ba'} but not {-be'}) the meaning is not harmed too much by putting the
suffix only on the {law'}.

> We may be forced to use something like
> "It is not true that A is Q-er than B" etc. ...

  i.e. "(that A is Q-er than B) is not true", with the sentence {A Q law' B Q
puS} used a subject, which sees to be impossible.

> Here is a summary of {law'/puS} constructions ...
> A and B can also be verb phrases:
>   QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS
>   Better to die on our feet than live on our knees
>   ("Dying while standing is preferable to living while kneeling"). ST6 & TKW

The verbs {Hegh} {yIn} can also be used as nouns. Here the same instances of
{Hegh} and {yIn} are used as a verb in taking a subordinate clause as adverb
and as a noun in its role in the comparative construction. Can (a verb used as
its gerund) always take a subordinate clause as if it was still a verb?

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