Re: noun 'a' vs. verb 'a'

[Steven Boozer <sboozer@midway.uchicago.edu>]

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