tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 03 12:06:50 1998
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Re: KLBC: -ghach
SuStel wrote:
: Still, since every single other example of a {-ghach}'d verb follows
: this pattern, and we have quite a number of {-ghach} words in observable
: usage [...]
No, we do not "have quite a number of {-ghach} words in observable usage"
-- at
least, not by Okrand. As has been mentioned, such nouns are indeed used
frequently -- mainly by beginners -- and commonly appear on this mailing list,
fan fiction, personal web pages, etc., but not in Okrand's materials.
Consider: Of the thirteen {-ghach} nouns provided so far by Okrand (out of a
total vocabulary of ca. 3000+ items), five are fairly straitforward (at least
in English):
lo'laHghach value (TKD)
lo'laHbe'ghach worthlessness (TKD)
naDHa'ghach discommendation (TKD)
naDqa'ghach re-commendation (TKD)
quvHa'ghach dishonor (TKW)
Five examples given in his HolQeD 3.3 article are somewhat unusual, perhaps to
be used for a specific rhetorical or stylistic effect:
tlhutlhtaHghach "ongoing drinking"
nobtaHghach "ongoing giving"
nobpu'ghach "a given (a finished case of giving)"
quvmoHghach "process of honoring"
belpu'ghach "having been pleased"
while three are incorrectly formed, "marked" in both languages:
*belghach "pleasureness"
*nobghach "givation, one-time donation"
*quvghach "honoredness"
Okrand has used a grand total of just *one* of these (quvHa'ghach) in a
sentence in context only one time:
qaStaHvIS wej puq poHmey vav puqloDpu' puqloDpu'chaj je quvHa'moH
vav quvHa'ghach
The dishonor of the father dishonors his sons and their sons for
three generations. TKW
The other twelve -- nine really, if you discount the three "marked"
examples of
how *not* to use {-ghach} -- are merely words in a vocabulary list, not "in
observable usage".
Maltz (at least) tends to avoid them, and probably so should we.
_________________________________________________________________________
Voragh "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons lis est." Horace (Ars Poetica)