tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 20 23:10:45 2002
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Re: [KLBC] comparing in tlhIngan Hol
From: "DOOM_er" <[email protected]>
> "My knowledge is greater [bigger] than ever."
>
> I came up with:
>
> DaH SovwIj tIn law' ret SovwIj tIn puS
>
> But it's not very elegant and I don't even know if it's possible that way.
> Any suggestions?
I think it would be a very elegant solution if /DaH/ were a noun. Since
it's actually one of the /chuvmey/, an adverbial, you're not comparing "now
knowledge" with "past knowledge," you're comparing "knowledge" with "past
knowledge," and saying the comparison is valid "now." (I don't see any
compelling reason why a noun like /ret/ can't be used alone -- Okrand tells
us how /ret/ is used to refer to a specific amount of time in the past in
the HolQeD article which introduces it; he doesn't tell us how it MUST be
used. /ret SovwIj/ makes a perfectly good noun-noun construction.)
I've also never been thrilled using /tIn/ to talk about something that's not
physically big. Knowledge doesn't have physical size; how can it be big?
It can be "great" or "impressive." In Star Trek V, Vixis describes Klaa as
having the potential to be the "greatest warrior in the galaxy," and uses
the verb /Dun/ "wonderful" to do it.
Ultimately, I don't see a good way to do this without breaking it up into
multiple sentences. You can do it if you lose the nice symmetry in the
law'/puS:
DaH De' vISovbogh pov law' ret SovwIj pov puS.
Substitute in your preferred verb for /pov/ if you like. The /DaH/ can be
interpreted either as an adverbial for the whole sentence, or as an
adverbial for /vISovbogh/.
SuStel
Stardate 2218.1