<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">I would tend to read it as “Leader, and Chancellor of the Klingon empire,” but reading your English translation, my natural inclination is to think “Chancellor … and Leader-of-the-Klingon-Empire.” I have to think it through to come up with “Leader-and-Chancellor of the Klingon Empire.” That interpretation comes later.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In the interest of clarity, I modestly suggest that one might seek to consider alternative constructions when the whim strikes to pile more than two nouns next to each other. It’s not banned. There are no rules against it. It’s just that the grammar doesn’t offer much in the way of clarity to support a string of nouns that may be linked by conjunction and/or genitive/possessive relationships.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">But if you cherish ambiguity, go for it with gusto. Amuse yourself and others as you see fit. It is completely within your rights to do so.</div><br class=""><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan<br class=""><br class="">rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.</div><div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On May 20, 2019, at 9:55 AM, De'vID <<a href="mailto:de.vid.jonpin@gmail.com" class="">de.vid.jonpin@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="auto" class=""><div class=""><br class=""><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, May 20, 2019, 15:25 Daniel Dadap, <<a href="mailto:daniel@dadap.net" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="">daniel@dadap.net</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br class="">
> On May 20, 2019, at 07:57, mayqel qunen'oS <<a href="mailto:mihkoun@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">mihkoun@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br class="">
> <br class="">
> What I'm wondering though is this: Assume we have a N-N-N-N (quadruple<br class="">
> noun construction); are *all* combinations possible ? i.e. (N-N)-N-N,<br class="">
> N-(N-N)-N, N-N-(N-N), (N-N-N)-N, N-(N-N-N) ?<br class="">
<br class="">
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).<br class=""></blockquote></div></div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">As an example, consider {tlhIngan wo' Qang DevwI' je}. Sure, you *could* read this as "a Klingon, an empire, a Chancellor, and a leader", but I bet no one has any trouble parsing this as "Chancellor and Leader of the Klingon Empire".</div><div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">-- </div><div dir="auto" class="">De'vID</div><div dir="auto" class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote></div></div></div>
_______________________________________________<br class="">tlhIngan-Hol mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org" class="">tlhIngan-Hol@lists.kli.org</a><br class="">http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></body></html>