tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 19 08:21:07 2005

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Re: comparative as question

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

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In a message dated 7/19/2005 11:17:08 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:


> 'ach vIparqu'.  I don't have any problem with the
> {raSvam'e' raSvelth'e' je} part, but the rest just looks
> wrong.  The {latlh} seems the wrong choice: ?"which one
> is the big one, the other is the small one".  I'd
> repeat the {nuq} if I was going to use this: ?"which one
> is the big one, which one is the small one".  Mixing an 
> interrogative and a positive like this just looks weird.
> 
> That initial {nuq} seems wrong, too. I realize that
> it can fit in the N slot, since it's a noun, but it's
> really being used like an adjective: "as for this table
> and that table, _which one_ is the big one...". And we
> know from MO's past comments that you can't use {nuq}
> with an adjectival meaning like that.  This is what
> led him to come up with the {X yIngu'} formula, because
> you couldn't use {nuq} to mean "which?".
> 
> I sent an alternative at the beginning of this thread that
> I don't think ever made it to the list. If it did, I
> apologize for repeating myself.  How about:
> 
> tIn raSvam. 'ach tInqu''a' raSvetlh?
> 
> -- ter'eS
> 

I don't think it got much of a response because the question was about 
comparatives, i.e., the {law'/puS} construction, which you didn't address.

lay'tel SIvten

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