[tlhIngan Hol] Noun-noun constructions with relative clauses

[Will Martin]

It’s also strange that it’s forbidden to use a Type 7 suffix on the second verb of a Sentence As Object construction (a ban created by Okrand to cover a time when he forgot to use one), though he’s subsequently broken his own ban and people often ignore it. Then there’s the thing about the prefix {lu-} which we were told you should use, though people often forget it exists, and then, well, {lutu’lu’} never happens even when it should.

And there’s three types of Rovers, only one of which actually roves. The alternative would have been to have had 11 Types instead of 9, with two of the now “Rover” Types having only one suffix in the Type, leaving {-be’} as the only Rover. This would suggest that he wanted to avoid having a single suffix listed per Type… except that {-moH} is the only Type 4 suffix, and {-neS} is the only Type 8.

Languages are quirky. As an artificial language posing as a natural language for a fictitious race of aliens, it had a quirky start, and it has lived up to its intentional weirdness.

The irregularities are “a feature, not a bug” because artificial languages tend to be more regular than natural languages, and this one is supposed to be a natural language, even though it isn’t, so having inconsistencies is, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, intentional because that makes it more like a natural language.

> On Nov 9, 2021, at 8:58 AM, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> charghwI':
> > If you argue that as a matter of style, the
> > language needs to bend to your will
> 
> I'm afraid you misunderstood me.
> 
> I wasn't asking for something to change; I was just expressing that (to me) it seems strange that the grammar forbids something, which at the same time indirectly allows.
> 
> The grammar forbids the addition of {-'e'} in the first noun of a {-bogh} clause (in an example as the above), but at the same time the same language allows for us to understand that {-bogh} clause as if the same {-'e'} that it forbids, existed.
> 
> Just seems strange, is all.
> 
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