[tlhIngan Hol] So sarcophagus you say ? hmm..

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Tue Aug 1 08:38:41 PDT 2017


It's a matter of style.  Some examples of {law'} used with a plural suffix might help:

Dujmey law' DachIjpu' 
You have navigated many ships. KGT (idiom)

tlhIngan Dujmey law'qu' SommeyDaq batlh cha'lu' 
[The Imperial emblem] has been emblazoned upon the hulls
  of countless Klingon starships. SP1

jorwI'mey ghaymo' qarDaSnganpu', Hegh SuvwI'pu'lI' law'
  'ej rIQ SuvwI'pu'lI' law' 
Suffer major losses after Cardassian bombing campaign. MKE

tlheDDI' quvmoHmeH veng HeHDaq lutlha' SaD law' nuvpu' 
Thousands followed him to the edge of the city, to bid
  him farewell. PB

{puS} "be few/several" works the same way:

qagh, ro'qegh'Iwchab, targh tIq Sop 'e' lungIl Humanpu' puS 
Few humans dare to eat gagh, rokeg blood pie, or
  heart of targ. S21

veymey puS neH chenmoHlu'pu' 
Limited Edition.  MKE
("Only a few copies have been made.")

--
Voragh


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mayqel qunenoS
> 
> SuStel:
> > using the plural suffix is not so much redundant as explicit
> 
> What does this mean ? Don't misunderstand me; I'm not contradicting you on
> this matter. I genuinely don't understand what this sentence means.
> 
> qunnoq
> 
> On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 4:38 PM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
> > On 8/1/2017 3:43 AM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
> >
> > If we wanted to specifically express the "many others", i think it
> > would be better to just write {latlh law'}. In this construction the
> > meaning remains the same, without "tiring" the reader by making him
> > read two "plurals" in a row.
> >
> > I think you're really just reacting to the fact that the plural suffix
> > is optional. I sometimes point out where plural suffixes can be
> > dropped for stylistic reasons, but using the plural suffix is not so
> > much redundant as explicit. I too would probably say latlh law'
> > instead of latlhpu' law' most of the time, but I would only call this
> > out where I feel a stylistic improvement could be made. But I disagree
> > that latlhpu' law' can be reduced to latlhpu' without changing the
> > meaning. Sometimes the presence or lack of law' may not make a
> > difference to the overall meaning, but this won't always be true.
> >
> > --
> > SuStel
> > http://trimboli.name



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