tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 31 23:15:56 2001
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RE: KLBC -- "Kill 'em all..."
- From: "Stauffer, Tad E (staufte7)" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC -- "Kill 'em all..."
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 23:19:19 -0400
I said:
>
> > With an imperative prefix:
> > {Hoch yIHoH} "Kill everyone!"
> >
peHruS said:
>While I realize that some nouns are corporate in nature and could
take the
>imperative prefix indicating a single entity, I do wonder if {Hoch
tIHoH}
>would not have been better here.
SuStel said:
Certainly not! /tI-/ would only be appropriate if the object were
plural.
It is not. /Hoch/ is a singular noun. It is most definitely not
/Hochpu'/.
The singular or plural CONCEPT is not important when deciding on
verb
prefixes. It is strictly a matter of whether the WORD itself is
plural.
I believe SuStel is correct - in this case, {Hoch} is acting as a noun
meaning "everyone, everything". As such, it is grammatically singular, and
the prefix should indicate a singular object:
{Hoch yIHoH} "Kill everyone!"
Similarly, the word {cha} means "torpedoes". However, it is grammatically
singular, so we say {cha yIghuS} instead of {cha tIghuS}. It might help to
think of {cha} as "a volley (of torpedoes)", since "a volley" is
grammatically singular, but refers to a group of things.
If you were to use {Hoch} to describe another, plural noun, such as {Hoch
ghotpu'} "all of the people", then you could use a prefix that indicates
plural:
{Hoch ghotpu' tIHoH} "Kill all of the people!"
- taD