Am 27.09.2023 um 19:54 schrieb SuStel via tlhIngan-Hol:
I think "distinct word" is the wrong thing to be looking for. "Unit of meaning," maybe "lexeme," is more useful in Klingon.
When I worked on the Number of words page in the wiki, I used the term "root word". I'm not sure if that's a grammatical term, but within Klingon, it's quite clear: {ghoj} is the root word for {ghojmoH} and {ghojwI'} Some years ago, I counted those "root words", i.e. skipping all comibinations. This lead me to a point of about 1.800 true roots, but that number is quite old. Today, I'd guess there are about 3,000 "real" Klingon (root-)words. (Additionally, all those country names and food transcriptions are not really Klingon words, but that's a different topic) -- Lieven L. Litaer aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany" http://www.tlhInganHol.com http://klingon.wiki/En/NumberOfWords