[tlhIngan Hol] Relevance of language ability to third person singular pronouns

[SuStel]

On 9/7/2018 7:47 PM, Daniel Dadap wrote:
>>
>> Personally, I think Okrand just assumed that the difference between 
>> /it/ and /he/she/him/her/ showed up the difference well enough. It's 
>> the fact that English /they/them/ can cover plural /it/ as well as 
>> /he/she/him/her/ that warrants special mention of the difference 
>> between *bIH* and *chaH,* not the exclusivity of the 
>> capable-of-using-language status of the words.
>>
>
> Sure, but he/she/him/her doesn’t necessarily indicate language 
> capability in English. Non-language capable beings can be hes and shes 
> and hims and hers.

English /he/ and /she/ (etc.) indicate sex or (more recently) gender 
identity, something that Klingon doesn't distinguish at all in its 
pronouns. In English a noun typically graduates from an /it/ to a /he/ 
or /she/ when it obtains a male/female gender that someone cares to 
mention. This doesn't happen in Klingon. Hence the question, when does a 
Klingon noun graduate from an *'oH* to a *ghaH?* It's not when the noun 
gains a gender. So when is it?

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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