tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 10 06:41:41 2006
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Re: mangpu' or negh?
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: mangpu' or negh?
- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 23:41:27 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' Shane MiQogh, ja':
>This intrests me, why negh instead of mangpu'?
Why "children" instead of "childs"?
{mangpu'} is actually acceptable Klingon, but carries some additional
connotations that {negh} doesn't have. The difference between {mangpu'} and
{negh} is that the former implies scattering or separation. If you told a
platoon to split up and recon an area, I believe it would be perfectly
normal Klingon for your commanding officer to come up and ask {nuqDaq chaH
mangpu'} "where are the soldiers?". Furthermore, if someone said that to me,
I would understand them to be implying "show me where each soldier is:
where's your sergeant? where's your yeoman?". On the other hand, if they had
said {nuqDaq ghaH negh}, I would understand that as meaning "show me the
area where all the soldiers are: where is your platoon?". bIyaj'a'?
Nevertheless, {negh} is the generally used plural of {mang}, and
unfortunately, all I can say in answer to your question is "No particular
reason". Or perhaps, no *longer* any particular reason: {negh} may have come
from an old word meaning "platoon" or "group of soldiers" or something like
that, which may be why it still behaves as grammatically singular.
QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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