tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 08 20:20:14 2001
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Re: Some more questions...
ja' "Patrick Masterson" <[email protected]>:
>1. Can the pronouns SoH and tlhIH, when used as the verb "you are," be
>imperative?
I don't think so. First, we have no examples of it. Second, pronouns
don't work with prefixes, imperative or otherwise, so there's not a good
way to tell that someone is trying to say "Don't be!" instead of "You
refuse to be." Finally, it somehow seems to me quite an appropriate "blind
spot" in the language, forcing one to focus on action rather than simple
existence.
>2. There are some words, like cha/peng and ray'/DoS that are different in
>singular and plural. How are they used with numbers? Is the singular or
>plural used, or is it like with regular nouns, where you don't need to
>indicate plurality if there's a number?
That's a very good question. What would you suggest as an answer? :)
Seriously, counting nouns with "irregular" plural forms is the single
largest hole in my understanding of the language. I can speculate in
several different directions, none of which seems any more likely than the
others.
-- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh