tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 14 20:41:39 2000

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RE: Grammar Highlight Each Day (Noun series indicating possession)



> Well, "must" is a bit strong.  {SuvwI' taj nISwI' je} is "the
> warrior's knife and disruptor pistol" which is a series showing
> possession but ending with {je}.  (It's ambiguous whether just
> the knife or both the knife and pistol belong to the warrior,
> just like in the English.)

When speaking we tend to insert slight pauses in our sentences which help to
properly group the nouns to avoid this ambiguity.  Likewise many times when
I write I add an extra space or two to symbolize these pauses and group the
nouns.

mej vavwI' toy'wI' puq je
"My father, a servant, and a child leave."
or is it, "My father's servant, and a child leave."
or, "My father, and the servant's child leave."

With spacing:
mej  vavwI' toy'wI'  puq je
"My father's servant and a child leave."


DloraH



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