tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 22 10:38:04 1999
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Re: qama'
On Sun, 21 Feb 1999 23:38:59 -0800 (PST) [email protected]
wrote:
> In a message dated 2/19/1999 1:43:28 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> <<
> {'ar} is not combined with {-logh}. {'ar} is simply one question
> word. {'arlogh} is another...>>
>
> Perhaps I am mistaken. I really did think MO gave us a combination of {'ar}
> and the number suffix {-logh}.
Yep. Mistaken. He never presented it as a question word plus a
number suffix. He just presented it as a new word. You presumed
the rest.
Remember that Okrand characteristically breaks down most
sentences he utters right after he says them, explaining the
root words and affixes. He didn't do that with {'arlogh}. There
is a reason he didn't do that with {'arlogh}. In particular, he
didn't do that with {'arlogh} because he didn't want to give
license to people trying to do exactly what you are trying to
do, which is make up new words based upon your own presumptions
about the language.
> That was just too obvious. I did not even
> consider the possibility that this is a whole new word with no relationship to
> those two syllables. I guess that {nuqDaq} really is not a combination of
> {nuq} and {-Daq}, to follow your logic.
Yep.
> So, if {'arDIch} comes to pass, it won't be because {'ar} is taking the number
> suffix
> {-DIch}, either. It will be a whole new word without association to those
> obvious parts when you enter it into your dictionary.
You are exactly right. And since that has not happened yet, and
probably never will happen, please recognize that *'arDIch* is
not a word. It is a pair of syllables that you alone would like
to treat as a word. The rest of us will likely continue to
ignore it.
If Okrand comes along some day and uses it or some other word
with its meaning, we'll go for it. Meanwhile, we went a long
time without "wall", and somehow, I think that is a more
fundamentally necessary meaning than the one you would choose
for your *'arDIch*.
> peHruS
charghwI' 'utlh