[tlhIngan Hol] The book of our good captain

[SuStel]

On 7/13/2016 10:10 AM, De'vID wrote:
> Are you saying that any QAO *construction* is just ungrammatical? I
> was under the impression that what was considered incorrect was
> *misinterpreting* the question word in a QAO sentence as a relative
> pronoun.


We got our first question-as-object sentence from Okrand in TalkNow!: 
*nuq Datlhutlh DaneH*/What do you want to drink?/ This supports the idea 
that you can use**the pronoun-like (not relative pronoun) question words 
*nuq* and *'Iv* in the place of the answer, just as TKD describes, even 
if it's in the first sentence of a sentence-as-object construction.


> Would anyone on this mailing list even blink if they heard a Klingon
> ask {'Iv vIHoH DaneH}? Or misinterpret it as "you want who I kill"?


I would blink, because I'd be thinking, "Oh, it's a question-as-object 
construction, but it's one of the okay ones."


> I actually think {chay' veSDuj'a' vIghajlaH DaH 'e' boyajchoH} is a
> perfectly grammatical Klingon sentence, just one that doesn't mean
> what Krankor wrote it means.


If it's grammatical, I don't understand what it means.


> In fact, I think Klingon can express certain questions more
> economically and precisely than English.
>
> {chay' maSuv 'e' ra'} "how did he order us to fight? (i.e., he ordered
> us to fight; what manner of fighting did he order us to do?)"
>
> This does *not* mean "he commanded how we fight" as a statement, and
> it can be contrasted with:
> {maSuv chay' 'e' ra'} "how did he order us to fight? (i.e., did he
> talk to us in person, did he send a coded communique by subspace, did
> he send us a message by courier, etc.?)"


Although they are not spelled out in TKD, based on the TalkNow! example 
I would probably also accept sentences like:

    *nuqDaq bItlhutlh DaneH
    */where do you want to drink?/

    *ghorgh bItlhutlh DaneH
    */when do you want to drink?/

    *HIq 'ar Datlhutlh DaneH
    */how many ales do you want to drink?/

    *chay' Datlhutlh DaneH
    */how//do you//want to drink?/

But, as you say, I wouldn't accept sentences in which the question word 
is being used as a relative pronoun.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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