[tlhIngan Hol] Dargh HIvje' jengva' je

[Daniel Dadap]

> On May 20, 2019, at 07:57, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> What I'm wondering though is this: Assume we have a N-N-N-N (quadruple
> noun construction); are *all* combinations possible ? i.e. (N-N)-N-N,
> N-(N-N)-N, N-N-(N-N), (N-N-N)-N, N-(N-N-N) ?

I don’t see why not. Context might make exclude some interpretations and common sense might make some more unlikely, but all of those should be possible, as well as (N-N)-(N-N).

Even with something as simple as {Dargh HIvje' jengva' je} there are three grammatically possible meanings:

Tea, Cup, and Saucer
Tea-cup and Saucer
Tea and Cup-saucer

I think in a long list, commas or pauses in speech can be very helpful in breaking up possible noun-nouns within the list if there is a chance for them to cause confusion.