tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 24 20:08:12 1999
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{-meH}: purpose clauses
[<> jatlhmeH mIwmey qel wa' nav.]
ja' peHruS:
>Then, there remains the question of what is the head noun of the {-meH}
>clause. It appears obvious to me in this sentence the head noun of the
>clause is {mIwmey}, which is plural.
Read TKD 6.2.4 closely. {-meH} goes on a verb in a "purpose clause".
The purpose clause goes in front of the noun or verb it is describing.
There isn't anything like a "head noun" of a purpose clause. If the
clause describes a noun, that noun isn't actually part of the clause.
In the above-quoted text, {mIwmey} has no role *in* the {-meH} clause.
Its number is not relevant to the prefix of the purpose clause's verb.
(The term "head noun" applies to the topic of a *relative* clause with
the {-bogh} suffix on the verb. Such nouns are explicitly part of the
relative clause, either as the subject or the object.)
-- ghunchu'wI'