tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 01 12:11:51 2004

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less predictable compound words in tkd+addendum

MorphemeAddict ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol taghwI']

tkd also has 53 words and 7 phrases whose meanings are essentially the sum of 
their components' meanings, but tkd gives no information on how to form 
compound words (beyond stating that they occur and giving a few examples).  thus 
these words provide us with new information, namely how simple words can combine 
to form other words.  unfortunately, only someone who already knows the 
meaning of the words (such as a native speaker) can give the meaning of the 
compound.
six of the phrases are of the noun-noun type.  thus they form a small group 
with fairly predictable meaning per tkd.  they are:  Hergh QaywI', reghuluS 
'Iwghargh, tlhIngan Hubbeq, tlhIngan wo', woj choHwI', 'orghen(ya') rojmab.
the remaining phrase is of the noun-adjective (where adjective means a verb 
of state used to modify a noun): veH tIn.  this is also precisely as tkd 
describes.

to describe the compound words, i will use the part of speech of each 
component as the main distinguishing feature.  all the compounds are nouns.  they are 
also all binary, i.e., they consist of two components, although sometimes the 
components can also have subcomponents.  the parts of speech which i will use 
are noun, verb, noun/verb, and adverb.

it is possible to create a matrix of possibilities:
        N            V           N/V           Adv
N     29           2             4                0
V       4            0             1                0
N/V   7            0             0               0
Adv   1             0             0               0

some of the 29 N-N words fall into groups of their own, based on their final 
component.  
     seven end in {-ngan}:  DenIbngan, nuralngan, reghuluSngan, romuluSngan, 
tera'ngan, vulqangan, 'orghengan/'orghenya'ngan.  this last is the only one of 
these with two forms, due to the two forms of the name of the planet organia. 
 vulqangan and 'orghengan both show apparent elision of the final -n of the 
base word.  {tlhIngan} may be a third one in this small group, but we have no 
word in tkd for the base, so it could be either {tlhI}, an odd form with its 
open syllable, or {tlhIn}, which is in fact found in other sources as the base 
of this word.  
     five of the words end in {Duj}:  DIvI'may'Duj (divided as DIvI' + 
may'Duj), may'Duj, SuyDuj, veQDuj, veSDuj.
     the other 17 N-N words are: Haqtaj, juHqo', mu'ghom, mu'tlhegh, 
nItlhpach, puchpa', puqbe', puqloD, pu'beH, pu'beq, pu'HIch, QeDpIn, ropyaH, 
tepqengwI' (divided as tep + qengwI'), tIjwI'ghom (divided as tIjwI' + ghom), 
'ejyo'waw' (divided as 'ejyo' + waw'), 'Iwghargh.

the two N-V words are bIQtIq, mongDech.

the four N-N/V words are Ho''oy', mangghom, la'quv, yejquv.

the four V-N words are leSpoH, QumpIn, vutpa', lupDujHom.  this last word is 
analyzable as either lup + DujHom or lupDuj + -Hom, and if the latter choice 
is more correct, then lupDuj is still a V-N noun. 

the one V-N/V word is Saqghom.

the seven N/V-N words are Hubbeq (as in tlhIngan Hubbeq), jolpa', rojmab, 
qughDuj, rI'Se', tlhIlHal, 'oy'naQ.

the one Adv-N word is DaHjaj.

there are three other compounds with transparent meanings, but they don't fit 
the matrix above very well.  they are the three words beginning with {nuq}: 
nuqDaq, nuqjatlh, nuqneH.

there is one more word in this whole category, but it has three components, 
and its analysis is uncertain.  the word is ra'ghomquv.  it can be analyzed as 
either ra'ghom + quv or as ra' + ghomquv.  the former makes more sense to me, 
but neither ra'ghom nor ghomquv is found in tkd, although the three components 
are all in tkd separately.  a third possible analysis could be simply ra' + 
ghom + quv, which would make it a non-binary word.

there are also four words apparently formed from nouns buth with verbal 
suffixes added.  these four words are DeghwI', De'wI', HaqwI', HerghwI'.  in all 
four cases the suffix is -wI', which also happens to be a noun suffix, but the 
meaning of the noun suffix -wI' is so at odds with the meaning of the words 
that only the verbal suffix makes sense.  one can speculate about lost or archaic 
verbs, but for now these four are just oddities.  

interestingly, there are no verbs with noun suffixes.   

in conclusion, the primary part of speech for forming compound nouns is the 
noun, followed by the noun/verb, and then the verb.  presumably the noun/verb 
is midway because of its dual nature.  the three parts of speech can occur in 
either position, initial or final, in a word.  thus compound words have a 
relatively free structure, in which any word of appropriate meaning can be used 
wherever it makes sense.  verbs tend not to occur in the final position, but we 
do have a few examples of it.  what we don't have is any example, at least in 
tkd, of a verb-verb compound.  

lay'tel SIvten

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