tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 21 07:53:11 2005
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Re: Correct/canon usage of numbers
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>According to TKD, an ordinal number is placed after the noun (e.g. meb
>wa'DIch / first guest). My question is what's the grammatical type of
>the ordinal number? Does it function as a noun like regular numbers
>(something like "the first of guests")? Or as a sort of "adjective"
>(even though it's not a verb)?
I'd consider it an example of "chuvmey". The only reason I can see to
want to make a distinction is to add other suffixes to it, and we know
the only suffixes that can be added are Type 5 noun suffixes (meb wa'DIchvaD
- for the first guest), which could be added to a N-N or N-Adj phrase,
so the actual part of speech is irrelevant.
>Another question, regarding the "number forming elements" (maH, vatlh,
>etc.): are they suffixes or words? TKD shows them attached to the number
>words, while (I think) the "Bird of Prey" poster which is considered as
>canon has them separated by a space. So in other words, are both usages
>correct? Is there a distinction between different forming elements?
I think that usage is tending towards making separate words out of all
but -maH, but this isn't canon.
>Also, is it correct to use a number forming element without a number
>(e.g. <'uy'> instead of <wa''uy'>)?
Again, no definitive answer, but I think we tend to use them with a number.
>Thanks,
>Daniel
-- ter'eS