tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 11 23:57:54 1999
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RE: KLBC: Subordinated Phrases
Clayton Cardoso:
> Ann kills the woman that Bob loves.
> Ann kills the woman that loves her.
pagh:
: If a <-bogh> clause has two nouns (like <puq qIpbogh yaS>), then you have
to
: decide which one is the "head noun" - the noun which is modified by the
: clause. You can usually tell from context. Also, if either noun is marked
: with the suffix <-'e'> or another type five suffix, then it is the head
: noun. For example: <puq qIpbogh yaS'e'> - "the officer who hit the child";
: <puq'e' qIpbogh yaS> - "the child who was hit by the officer". See TKD
6.2.3
: for more information.
Careful. As Okrand explains in TKD, this last example is properly "the
child whom the officer hit". Strictly speaking, Klingon doesn't have a
passive. (Not that you can't use the English passive when translating for
those for whom "whom" is anathema, like Clayton and pagh.)
: For this sort of thing, you could also use a <-bogh> clause, or you could
do
: something simpler. A verb which "describes a state or quality" can be
placed
: right after a noun and act like an adjective does in English. For example:
: <paq tIn> - "the big book"; <waq Doq> -"the red shoe". See TKD 4.4 for more
: on this.
I've always liked the fact that Klingon grammar allows the option of {paq
tIn} "the big book" as well as {tInbogh paq} "the book which/that is big",
which surely sounds as awkward in Klingon as in English. (Maltz, are you
listening?) I can easily imagine a Klingon Dr Seuss making frequent and
imaginative use of both options in children's rhymes.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons