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

[Daniel Dadap]

> On Sep 7, 2018, at 19:20, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
> 
>> 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?

That remains the open question. :)

If not when the noun becomes language capable, the other reasonable interpretation is when the noun becomes animate. Perhaps the same place where the difference between {-beH} and {-rup} manifests.

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> SuStel
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