tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 30 22:32:11 2006
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Re: yopwaH
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: yopwaH
- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:32:01 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' Stephen, ja':
>Another way to look at it that may help to understand the Japanese
>(and Klingon?) point of view better is to consider nouns as neither
>singular nor plural, but simply unmarked for number.
Absolutely. In Klingon, {paq vIghaj} could be either "I have the book" or "I
have the books".
Nouns in Klingon are only explicitly singular when verbal or pronominal
agreement dictates it (thus, {paq wIghaj} can only mean "we have the book")
or when their plurals are suppletive ({jengva'} "plate", for instance).
Plural markers are an entirely optional category in Klingon, and generally,
a noun that carries no number marking is... er... unmarked for number.
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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