tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 18 21:03:47 2000
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: noun 'a' vs. verb 'a'
veS joH asked:
: How would you translate
: be'nalwij SoH'a' =You are my wife. -or- Are you my wife?
: Which is a question, and which is a statement?
The interrogative verb suffix {-'a'} goes on the verb or on the pronoun
when it acts as a linking verb:
be'nalwI' SoH.
You are my wife.
(Be careful BTW. {-wIj} is used only for inanimate objects or, in Okrand's
terms, "nouns incapable of using language". Unless you're attempting to
initiate a mating ritual, don't insult you wife like this! by using the
wrong suffix!)
be'nalwI' SoH'a'?
Are you my wife?
: be'nalwij'a' SoH =You are my wife.
Based on Okrand's recent discussion of {Qun} vs. {Qun'a'} on
startrek.klingon, I would guess that *{be'nal'a'} would be a "chief/senior
wife": i.e. the first or most important wife out of several wives. Okrand
explains the augmentative noun suffix {-'a'} as:
"This suffix indicates that what the noun refers to is
bigger, more important, or more powerful than it would
be without the suffix." (TKD p.21)
The augmentative noun suffix {-'a'} precedes any possessive suffix:
DuywI' SoH. vs. Duy''a'wI' SoH.
You are my emissary. You are my ambassador.
(N.B. Emissaries and ambassadors are people and get {-wI'}.)
juHwIj 'oH. vs. juH'a'wIj 'oH.
It is my house. It is my mansion.
(N.B. Houses and mansions are things and get {-wIj}.)
So, putting this all together:
be'nal'a'wI' SoH.
You are my chief wife.
and using both noun (-'a'} and verb {-'a'} together:
be'nal'a'wI' SoH'a'?
Are you my chief wife?
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons