tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 29 17:46:49 2007

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Re: Basic grammar question

QeS 'utlh ([email protected])



ghItlhpu' Qang qu'wI', ja':
>I wrote {maleng QorDu'wIj jIH je}. But it seems that the {ma-}
>should imply {jIH} as part of the subject. {maleng QorDu'wIj}
>seems odd, but that may be a result of thinking in the
>DIvI' Hol interpretation, perhaps it's not odd in tlhIngan Hol.
 
No, it strikes me as odd too. From my understanding of Klingon grammar, an explicit noun on its own should condition third-person agreement on the verb, and we have no canon that indicates otherwise. I find {maleng qorDu'wIj} (note the spelling) to be outright ungrammatical.
 
I consider it this way: the verb prefixes of Klingon aren't exactly the same as the free pronouns. They're more like agreement prefixes, which is why we get a prefix surfacing in sentences like {puq lulegh yaS} "the officers saw the child" even though the subject and object are explicit and there's not really even a need for a pronominal prefix. For this reason, I believe that if you're going to provide a noun phrase for the verb {maleng}, that noun phrase has to include either {jIH} or {maH}, otherwise the rule of agreement is violated. KGT (I can't remember the page number off the top of my head) tells us that the rule of agreement - in Klingon, {rom} "concord" - is one of the most strictly observed by Klingons. Hence, I think that ?{maleng qorDu'wIj} for "my family and I travelled" is so long a stretch that it's probably incorrect. YMMV.QeS 'utlhtlhIngan Hol yejHaD pab po'wI' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institutenot nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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