tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 29 14:50:51 2008

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Re: Hov machqu' luchenmoHlu'ta'bogh lulaQ 'e' lunab tejpu'

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

Steven Boozer wrote:
> I wrote:
> 
>> "Scientists plan to ignite tiny man-made star": 
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3981697
>>  /Scientists-plan-to-ignite-tiny-man-made-star.html
> 
> Still not satisfied with how I translated the article's title...
> 
> ? ngebbogh Hov'e' 'ej machqu'bogh ...
> 
> Cf.
> 
> SuDbogh Dargh 'ej wovbogh The tea that is {SuD} and light. KGT
> 
> or:
> 
> ? ngebbogh 'ej machqu'bogh Hov ...
> 
> Cf.
> 
> romuluSngan Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI' Romulan hunter-killer probe.
> KCD

Unless the phrase is a tight unit, it's usually better to state the noun 
at the earliest opportunity. Notice that Okrand was translating 
"hunter-killer," which has been turned into a single word even in 
English. He may have done this subconsciously, but that only proves the 
point.

Relative and subordinate clauses are, Type 9 suffixes notwithstanding, 
still complete sentences, and thus use sentence conjunctions. When 
eliding nouns, one typically keeps the first noun and elides the 
subsequent ones. This also applies to the sentence-as-object construction.

In this case, however, since there is no symmetry between the two verbs 
modifying {Hov}, I see no reason not to use the verb of quality 
adjectivally.

Also notice that using {-'e'} as a disambiguator is unnecessary here, as 
  there is no way to mistake the head noun.

Don't use {lu-} on the {--lu'} verb unless the object is plural.

> Also, {ngeb} "be counterfeit, be false, be fake" ("be artificial"?)
> is simpler than {luchenmoHlu'ta'bogh} "which has been
> constructed/created/made" but doesn't have quite the impact.

Hov machqu' chenmoHlu'ta'bogh lumeQchoHmoH tej 'e' lunab.

-- 
SuStel
Stardate 8996.4

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