tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 29 20:47:12 2005
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Re: ta
- From: "QeS lagh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: ta
- Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:46:54 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' qIno'rIq, ja':
>Having had at least one class in applied typology, my approach would be:
>1. a) alienable {-mey} vs. b) inalienable
I don't know about {-pu'} nouns being necessarily inalienable - although I
like the theory, particularly since many Terran languages do exhibit
inalienable possession on kinship terms. It's certainly better than another
old theory put forward many years ago, that the plural suffix {-pu'} and the
noun {pu'} "phaser" were somehow related; I really, really doubt that that's
the case.
However, I think that nouns using {-mey} being distinguished by the feature
of being "alienable" is probably right on the money. After all, TKD tells us
that if you have {ghopmey}, the hands are "scattered all about" - hence
disconnected from the body, and therefore inherently alienated from their
origins.
>2. b1) relatives (maybe archaic, usage transferred to any, not only related
>beings capable of language) {-pu'}
> vs.
> b2) body parts (including conceptually metaphorical usage e.g. for
>{toQDuj telDu'}; cf. pun "dual"<->{-Du'}) {-Du'}
I heard a theory a couple of years ago that in terms of Proto-Klingon,
{-Du'} may have originally been a true dual number suffix that was
reanalysed as being for body parts, since many body parts come naturally in
pairs: eyes, nostrils, hands, arms, legs, feet, livers (for Klingons,
anyway), and perhaps {qIvonDu'} as well.
Of course, we also have {joQDu'} "ribs"; there are 23 of those, which is a
prime number. ;)
>{vaj, wa' >>Sorqoq<< QaQqu' wItu'laHlaw'. 'ach chaq tlhoy jISublI'. }}:-P
>Savan, qIno'rIq}
chaq, 'ach lugh HochHom ngermeylIj 'e' vIHar. {{:) majQa'!
Savan,
QeS la'
taghwI' pabpo' / Beginners' Grammarian
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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