tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 15 07:56:25 2005
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Re: comparative as question
Dar'Qang:
> > How would one form the question: "Is this table bigger than that
> > table"?
ghunchu'wI':
> > raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn puS, qar'a'
>
>It might imply that you expect the answer to be {HIja'}, but it's the
>best way to do it I know of.
We've wondered about this for years. Adding the tag question {qar'a'}
"Isn't it? Isn't that so? Right?" is the least problematic - and even
that's our own guess. AFAIK Okrand/Maltz has never done it, but has given
us a few variations of the comparative in HolQeD 13.1. Applying these to
Dar'Qang's example we can say:
raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn law'
raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn rap
this table is as big as that table
and
raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn nIb
raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn pIm
this table is not as big as that table
but no examples in the form of a question. *IF* you use the interrogative
suffix {-'a'}, we're not sure where it would go - on both {law'} and {puS},
on {law'} only, or on {puS} only:
1. raSvam tIn law''a' raSvetlh tIn puS'a' (??)
2. raSvam tIn law''a' raSvetlh tIn puS (??)
3. raSvam tIn law' raSvetlh tIn puS'a' (??)
If I had to choose based on the variations in HolQeD 13.1 - where a
different word is substituted for {puS} - my money is on no. 3, assuming
(a) Klingons don't use another formula entirely and (b) comparative
questions are even grammatically possible in Klingon.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons