tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 06 12:58:13 1999
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RE: nom
pagh:
: Not really. Adverbials like <nom> modify whole sentences, not nouns.
: Consider <nom SImwI' vIHoH>. I'm not killing the one who calculates quickly;
: I'm quickly killing the calculator.
SuStel:
: Actually, there is a case for saying that {nom SImwI'} means "one who
: calculates quickly." NOTE: I do NOT accept the following argument, but it
: is a legitimate one.
: Just as {batlh bIHeghbe'} means "You will die without honor" in Power
: Klingon (notice that the {-be'} on the verb seems to be modifying the
: adverbial+verb or just the adverbial, not just the verb), so might {nom
: SImwI'} mean "one who calculates quickly" (in this case, the {-wI'}
: encompasses all of {nom SIm}).
: Now, I don't think this is RIGHT. I think it is wrong. But the precedent
: certainly exists.
Although I don't think we've ever seen a noun phrase consisting of
ADVERBIAL + VERBwI' before, there is some slight evidence that derived
{-wI'} nouns *may* have objects:
nuja' tlhIngan wIch ja'wI'pu'
According to Klingon legend... (SkyBox S8)
(lit. "Klingon {wIch ja'wI'}s tell us...")
Here {wIch ja'wI'} must mean something like a bard or griot ("one who tells
myths/legends"). Note that {wIch} seems to be the object of {ja'} "tell,
report" - here probably best translated as "relate, recite" - even though
it has the {-wI'} suffix.
wIch Dajqu' ja' tlhIngan qan.
The old Klingon told/related a very interesting legend.
If this analysis is correct, it is at least plausible that noun phrases of
the type ADVERBIAL + VERBwI' may also show up sometime in the future.
Of course I'm aware that {wIch ja'wI'} can just as easily be analyzed as a
N1 N2 noun phrase ("myth/legend teller") which blows my argument.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons