tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 29 15:51:12 2002

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RE: [KLBC] superlative + bogh?



..
> And then we have this odd line from ST5:
> 
>   qIbDaq [SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS].    
>   You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy. 
> 
> Frankly, I'm not sure exactly what's going on here.  It appears that the A
> element - {A Q law' B Q puS} - is a sentence with the predicate tagged with
> {-'e'}: {SuvwI''e' SoH}.  If I re-analyse it, we have:
> 
>   qIbDaq SuvwI''e' [SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS].   
>   As for the warrior in the galaxy, you are the greatest (of all).
> 
> in which case the law'/puS bit is okay (Okrand has told us that A and B can be
> pronouns), but the place stamp is now strange.  Does someone have a better
> transcription?

It becomes less strange when you remember that the plural suffix is optional:

"In the galaxy, as for warriors, you are the most wonderful."

We know that {qIbDaq SuvwI''e'} can't be a noun-noun construction because that 
would violate the rule against having a first noun with a Type 5 noun suffix. 
Then it becomes nested, more like:

qIbDaq {SuvwI'e' [SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS]}

Essentially, this sets the scope of the superlative, first by topic (SuvwI''e') 
and then by location (qIbDaq). You may not be the most wonderful cook or the 
most wonderful scholar, but you are the most wonderful warrior, and we'll 
compare you to any other warrior in the galaxy. Go to the next galaxy and you 
are on your own.

> : For now we will need to recast using multiple sentences.
> 
> This is certainly how Okrand did it in SkyBox S27:
> 
>   tlhIngan wo' yuQmey chovlu'chugh Qo'noS potlh law' Hoch potlh 
>    puS.  roD 'oHvaD juHqo' ponglu' neH.
>   The principal planet of the Klingon Empire, Qo'noS, is usually
>    referred to as simply "The Homeworld." 
> 
> But DloraH is right.  It really depends on exactly what you're trying to say,
> which is why it's hard to transcribe phrases.  Give us the entire sentence or
> thought.

Perfect advice.

> -- 
> Voragh                       
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

charghwI' 'utlh, former BG, WAAAAY past his
prime.



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