[tlhIngan Hol] is 'op and 'op-noun construction singular or plural

[mayqel qunen'oS]

Something which has troubled me repeatedly in the past was whether the
{'op} (either used on its' own or as part of a noun-noun construction)
should be treated as singular or plural.

Should we say {vIghro' legh 'op} or {vIghro' lulegh 'op}? Should we say
{vIghro' legh 'op yaS} or should we say {vIghro' lulegh 'op yaS}?

The word {'op} was given as "some, an unknown or unspecified quantity". But
what I can't understand with this definition is this:

Does the "some" refer to the "quantity" of the definition which follows
after the comma, meaning "some quantity" (which would be singular), or is
it to be understood on its' own, meaning things like "some
(objects/people/etc)" which would be plural?

I wasn't able to decide, until I noticed the {'opleS}. Analyzing this word,
we observe something interesting:

'op =some, an unknown or unspecified quantity

leS = days from now

However..

'opleS = one day, some day

The {'opleS} literally means "some, an unknown or unspecified quantity
of days from now", but it is given as "one day, some day" (which is
obviously singular).

Based on the above, perhaps the correct way to understand the {'op} is that
its' "some" refers to the "quantity" meaning "some quantity" (which is
singular), and it does not imply things like "some (objects/people/etc)"
which would be plural.

So, perhaps the correct thing to say is {vIghro' legh 'op} and not {vIghro'
lulegh 'op}, and {vIghro' legh 'op yaS} and not {vIghro' lulegh 'op yaS}.

However, another question comes to mind.. We want to say "some warriors are
klingon". Should we write {tlhIngan chaH 'op SuvwI''e'}, or should we write
{tlhIngan ghaH 'op SuvwI''e'}?

If the {'op SuvwI'} is singular, then the obvious choice would be {tlhIngan
ghaH 'op SuvwI''e'}, which perhaps seems a little strange. On the other
hand though, we *do* say {tlhIngan ghaH neghvam'e'}, so why would the
{tlhIngan ghaH 'op SuvwI''e'} need to be wrong?

Now, perhaps one could argue, that by writing {'op SuvwI'} and treating it
as singular, one could understand "some, an unknown or unspecified quantity
of a warrior" meaning "just a part of him/his body".

However, we *do* have the following Ca'Non sentence:

qIvo'rIt pagh'e'
qIvo'rIt toQDuj 'oH tlhIngan wo' Duj pagh'e'. ra' qarghan HoD. DujvamDaq
tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS 'ej DujvamDaq 'op SuvwI'
tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo' SuvwI' law' po' puS.

K'Vort Class Pagh
The Imperial Klingon Vessel Pagh is a K'Vort-class Bird-of-Prey under the
command of Captain Kargan. It has the best weapons and some of the finest
warriors in the Klingon fleet.

>From this Ca'Non sentence we see, that saying {'op SuvwI'} is to be
understood as "some warriors" and not as "some, an unknown or unspecified
quantity of a warrior" meaning "just a part of him/his body".

Or perhaps it *could* mean something like that too, but at least not
necessarily.

Anyways, I realize that since there are no Ca'Non answers to all these
questions, no one can know for sure, but until we receive these answers
(*if* we ever receive them..) I'll probably stick to the conclusions
mentioned in this thread.

~ Dana'an
remain klingon
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/attachments/20210302/809e5624/attachment.htm>