tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 12 08:10:49 2002
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Re: nuH
> i would like to know if /nuH/ in this sentence means "weapon" or
> "weapons".
>
> DujvamDaq tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS 'ej DujvamDaq
> 'op SuvwI' tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo' SuvwI' law' po' puS.
For the others that are watching, here is the full quote that is apparently
being referenced here:
>>>
qIvo'rIt pagh'e' K'Vort Class Pagh
qIvo'rIt toQDuj 'oH tlhIngan wo' Duj pagh'e'. ra' qarghan HoD. DujvamDaq
tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS 'ej DujvamDaq 'op SuvwI'
tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo' SuvwI' law' po' puS.
The Imperial Klingon Vessel Pagh is a K'Vort-class Bird-of-Prey under the
command of Captain Kargan. It has the best weapons and some of the finest
warriors in the Klingon fleet.
<<<
The lack of the prefix lu- on /tu'lu'bogh/ tells us that nuH is singular. In
the english it is plural.
To cover his rear, in KGT MO says:
>>>
If the indefinite subject suffix -lu' (phonetically simi-
lar, but unrelated to the prefix) is used, indicating that
someone or something unknown or unstated performs
the action, things get a little more complicated. In these
instances, the prefix lu- indicates that the object is plural:
romuluSnganpu' luHIvlu' ("Someone attacks the Ro-
mulans," or "The Romulans are attacked").
Because Klingon nouns may be plural even if they
lack a plural suffix (-pu' in the examples above), some-
times sentences, if taken out of context, are ambiguous.
Thus, romuluSngan HIv tlhIngan could, theoretically,
mean "The Klingon attacks the Romulan," "The Klingon
attacks the Romulans," or "The Klingons attack the Ro-
mulans." It could not mean "The Klingons attack the Ro-
mulan," however, because that meaning would require
the prefix lu- on the verb: romuluSngan luHIv tlhIngan.
Since the subject and object are not otherwise distin-
guished as singular or plural, lu- is what makes the
meaning clear. Similarly, if the verb has the indefinite
subject suffix -lu' and the object of the sentence lacks a
plural suffix, only the presence of the prefix lu- makes it
clear that it is plural: romuluSngan luHIvlu' ("Someone
attacks the Romulans," or "The Romulans are attacked").
In those instances, however, when clarity is not an
issue--that is, if the object is unambiguously singular
(when the subject is known) or unambiguously plural
(when the subject is indefinite)--the prefix lu- is some-
times left off: wa' romuluSngan HIv tlhInganpu' ("The
Klingons attack one Romulan"; wa', "one"); romulu-
Snganpu' HIvlu' ("Someone attacks the Romulans," or
"The Romulans are attacked"). Though this makes the
sentences fall in line with other third-person subject/
third-person object sentences in that there is no verb pre-
fix, these are still regarded as errors; the correct sen-
tences are wa' romuluSngan luHIv tlhInganpu' and
romuluSnganpu' luHIvlu'. Except in formal situations,
however, the omission of lu- in such cases is often over-
looked. Though technically an error, and jarring to many
Klingons' ears, it causes no confusion as to the intended
meaning of the sentence. It is important to note that this
does not mean that the use of lu- is optional; it is left off
only under specific conditions.
<<<
So in the sentence you questioned, nuH is plural, but just isn't marked as such.
DloraH, BG