[tlhIngan Hol] verbs with {-bogh} and numbers

[SuStel]

On 10/19/2017 3:36 PM, nIqolay Q wrote:
> In the right context, or if they're aware of it as a phrase from 
> canon, readers will understand the intended meaning of *romuluSngan 
> Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI'*. Since Okrand wrote it, we know it's a 
> grammatical expression and that Klingons consider the phrasing 
> stylistically acceptable. But I don't think it's necessarily the /best 
> /way to express that idea, because it can be misinterpreted.

Is it any more ambiguous than the English /Romulan hunter-killer probe?/ 
Is that a hunter-killer probe that hunts and kills Romulans or a 
hunter-killer probe of Romulan make? Why isn't it a /hunter-killer 
Romulan probe?/ Doesn't /hunter-killer Romulan probe/ sound just plain 
WRONG to you, even though it can't be misinterpreted?

Here's why it sounds wrong (there are alternative versions of this): 
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/about-adjectives-and-adverbs/adjectives-order

In this scheme, /Romulan/ is type 7 (origin) and /hunter-killer/ is type 
10 (purpose).

Does Klingon obey those rules? No idea. But when a native English 
speaker invents the language and translates into it, it's possible that 
he is unconsciously following those rules. I wouldn't declare this sort 
of thing solved, but it's worth examining Okrand's possible biases in 
this light.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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