tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 18 15:50:41 2001

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Re: 'op puS qechmey vIghaj

jatlh Voragh:

>Before anyone counters with the very odd {A Q law' Hoch Q puS} formula,
>remember that {puS} isn't modifying {Hoch}, it's apparently modifying Q, 
>the
>quality being compared - but if that's so, that raises another question as 
>to
>how one quality can modify another directly, or why the word order seems to 
>be
>backwards.  (Well, Okrand would probably say that the formula is a relict 
>from
>an extinct historical dialect to "modern" Klingon with somewhat different
>grammatical rules!)

I don't think the /law'/ and /puS/ are modifying anything in particular.  
They're just the signposts of the comparative sentence.  It doesn't seem 
much different than saying something like, "My Internet connection at home 
compared to my connection at work, is just like the tortise compared to the 
hare."  This is why, as KLINGON FOR THE GALACTIC TRAVELER tells us, we can 
substitute different contrasting verbs for /law'/ and /puS/: because the 
essence of the construction, that of comparison, remains intact and 
recognizable.

This is also why I don't like seeing people try to change the form of the 
law'/puS construction: you're fiddling with the basic comparative idea of 
the sentence.  You can't (or at least shouldn't) use, say, law'qu'/puS for A 
is very much more than Q, because the /-qu'/ doesn't meaning anything in the 
comparison.  (That, and it's a fossilized form, or appears to be, especially 
after the evidence in KGT.)

SuStel
Stardate 1716.3

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