tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 07 07:57:22 2000

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RE: KLBC: DaHjaj mu'mey:

jIjatlh:

>>>> vutpa' yIjaHQo'. pa' betleHlIj'e' pIDbogh ghISDen Datu'.

jang tuv'el. jatlh:

>>> OK, the second sentence here freaked me out.
>>> This is what I came up with:
>
>>> "Don't go to the galley. You'll find the scales that 
>>> coat your bat'telh there."

>> Very close. The <-'e'> marks <betleH> as the head noun of 
>> the relative clause, making it:
>>
>> Don't go to the galley! You'll find your betleH, which is 
>> covered in scales.

> OK, I see that.  I thought the realtive clause usually preceeded 
> the noun it modified?  I would have written that as: pa' pIDbogh 
> ghISDen betleHlIj'e' Datu'.  Would you mind explaining how you 
> came up with that construction, and how you would figure it out 
> if someone else wrote it?  I'm not questioning that it's correct, 
> but I don't quite get it.

A relative clause works just like a main clause - object verb subject. With
my example of <betleHlIj'e' pIDbogh ghISDen ...>, drop the <-bogh> and you
get just a regular normal sentence - "Scales coat your betleH". qay'be',
qar'a'?

The way <-bogh> works is to take that perfectly normal sentence and turn it
into something that modifies the "head noun" of the clause. The head noun
can be either the subject or the object, and it's usually obvious which one
is meant, but not always. Examples:

Hov Daleghbogh - The star (which) you see
muHoHpu'bogh HeSwI' - The criminal who killed me
wovbogh Dargh - Tea which is light (in color)
targh beQmoHbogh Duj - The ship which crushed the targ --OR-- The targ which
was crushed by the ship

For cases where it is not obvious, like the unfortunate targ above or the
betleH coated in scales, the suffix <-'e'> is often added to the head noun
to mark it. This was actually Krankor's invention, and Marc Okrand decided
he liked it. So to clarify the examples:

targh beQmoHbogh Duj'e' - The ship which crushed the targ
targh'e' beQmoHbogh Duj - The targ which was crushed by the ship

betleHlIj pIDbogh ghISDen'e' - The scales which coat your betleH
betleHlIj'e' pIDbogh ghISDen - Your betleH, which is coated in scales

Does this make sense?


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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