[tlhIngan Hol] jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu' vs nuq 'oH jar'e' DamaSqu'bogh

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Mon Jul 13 08:50:18 PDT 2020


On 7/13/2020 11:11 AM, Will Martin wrote:
> {yIH nuq} works because {nuq} sort of works like a pronoun, except 
> when it doesn’t.

It always works like a pronoun. Pronouns have two functions in Klingon: 
they stand in for nouns *(nuq legh yaS),* and they help identify nouns 
*(yIH nuq).*

I doubt *nuq* does all the things that pronouns can do. I doubt, for 
instance, that you'd ever put verb suffixes on *nuq.* I don't think *yIH 
nuqbe'* /What isn't a tribble?/ is a well-formed sentence. We don't 
really know anything about that. But *nuq* always functions basically 
the way a pronoun functions in Klingon.


> Considering that the correct answer would be {Ha’DIbaH ‘oH yIH’e’} 
> it’s pretty clear that {yIH nuq} is probably a shortened version of 
> {nuq ‘oH yIH’e’}. The word {nuq} absorbs the meaning of {nuq ‘oH}, and 
> with a single noun combined with the resulting chuv acting as a 
> pronoun, the noun comes first.

"Pretty clear"? The ONLY evidence I can think of to support anything 
like that is the clipped version of *nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'* turning into 
*nuqDaq puchpa'.* One single sentence using a different word isn't what 
I'd call "pretty clear." It's a possibility only. We have evidence 
against that claim, in that Okrand said the word *nuq* works "the same 
way pronouns do in questions with 'to be' in the English translations," 
and says that *yIH nuq* is exactly parallel to *yIH 'oH.* That 
explanation contradicts the Clipped Klingon suggestion.


>
> We don’t say *{nuq yIH} for the same reason we don’t say *{maH 
> tlhIngan}. When one noun forms a sentence with a pronoun, the noun 
> comes first.

Except we have *nuq mI'lIj, tera'ngan* from CK. I've also internalized 
that we have both *SoH 'Iv* and *'Iv SoH,* but I can't find a source for 
*'Iv SoH,* so that may not be a canonical sentence.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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