Re: what sounds weird

[willm@cstone.net]

>From: "Sangqar (Sean Healy)"
..
> It wasn't just one language - several languages have the feature in question 
> (pronoun drop).  I used an example from the one I'm most copmfortable with, 
> but they all work in a similar manner.

Unfortunately, by the time this message came through, the example was no longer 
included.

..
> Furthermore, I wasn't just assuming it would work.  I *was* questioning it.  
> That was my original post:  Here's something I want to say and two ways I 
> might say it.  My experience with natural languages points me in one 
> direction, but I'm asking the experienced speakers which of these two is 
> better.  (Or is there a third option I haven't thought of?)

Since I no longer have your example to go by, I can't really answer this 
question. You've replaced the example with "it". The term "pronoun drop" 
doesn't really carry that much meaning that I can give you a third option when 
I don't know what you are trying to say.

When a thread gets so worn that you are talking about an example you are no 
longer including, it's typically time to drop the thread, or add something more 
specific instead of something more vague to continue it onward.

I will say that I'd be much more interested in having you actually communicate 
in Klingon instead of writing a lot of English about one idea that is not 
really necessary in order to actually communicate in Klingon. I don't care if 
you can drop pronouns in a way Okrand hasn't told us yet. I know that I can 
express lots of ideas in Klingon without attempting to resolve this question 
that can only be answered by Okrand, especially when there are far more 
interesting questions I'd rather have him answer that could offer a much wider 
range of idea expression.

As a simple example, how can I refer to an end of a stick? End of a road? End 
of a sword? Is this a matter of vocabulary, or is there some idiomatic way to 
use words we already have to talk about this?

I can talk about the inside and outside of the top and bottom of a box, and I 
have a lot of terms for walls, but I can't talk about the end or tip of 
anything. If I could get Okrand to answer a question, I'd rather have something 
that expands expressive potential for a wider scope of meaning than to have a 
new way to drop a word in a sentence.

Will