Klingon doesn’t have adverbs. It has “adverbials”. These modify verbs. Their placement in the sentence begins the verb clause (main or dependent) because it is grammatically linked to the verb.

Given this, I could only interpret {vabDot vIghro’ tIQ DagheplaH,} to mean “You’ll even be able to hold the ancient cat.” Maybe Okrand has used it otherwise in canon or maybe he’s explained how an adverbial could apply to a noun, and I’ll once again wince my way through yet another grammatical inconsistency, but from my perspective, rules is rules, and adverbials modify verbs.

Wellllllll, if we're going by "the rules," adverbials "describe the manner of the activity." That's not quite the same thing as "adverbials modify verbs."

Qa'yIn isn't saying that vabDot and tlhoS can modify nouns. He's saying that they can be translated in a way that leads to an English adverb modifying a noun. And he is correct.

vabDot vIghro' DaleghlaH SoH means It is even true that you can see a cat. That might mean:

It is even true that YOU can see a cat.
It is even true that you can SEE a cat.
It is even true that you can see a CAT.

(I am emphasizing individual words to illustrate the point, not as a suggestion that the adverbial emphasizes words.)

All Qa'yIn is doing is noticing that the even part of the English translation might be applied in the English translation to any of those words. In Klingon, you cannot move the vabDot around, so the interpretation must be entirely left to context.

This is why we call them adverbials and not “adverbs”.

Wellllllll, no, that's not really the difference between adverbs and adverbials. In English, an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, adjective, adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. It is a part of speech, like nouns and adjectives. An adverbial is a word or phrase that modifies a sentence or verb. It is a sentence part, like subjects and predicates. Adverbs are usually used as adverbials.

So the word adverbial doesn't really tell us a lot about the limitations of what it can do. Given that they almost always come before the OVS part of the sentence, I think they probably usually apply to the whole sentence, to be interpreted as context decrees.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name