On 7/11/2016 1:50 PM, Steven Boozer wrote:
Another example where the subject is elided is:
*romuluSngan Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI'*
a Romulan hunter-killer probe (KCD)
It’s a small assassination device that has two functions closely connected – {Sam} (“locate” or “seek and find”) and {HoH} (“kill”); so closely that “hunter” and “killer” are hyphenated in English to show they refer to the same thing. Repeating the subject might imply two separate devices:
**romuluSngan Sambogh nejwI’ 'ej HoHbogh nejwI'*
a Romulan hunter probe and (a) killer probe
I don't think it can imply two devices. That would require a noun conjunction. What we have here is a compound sentence as a relative clause. The following would all be correct: *romuluSngan Sambogh nejwI' 'ej HoHbogh nejwI' romuluSngan Sambogh nejwI' 'ej HoHbogh rumuluSngan Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI' * The explained grammar has the second of repeated nouns elided (as per TKD 6.2.1), but common usage also shows the first of repeated nouns being elided to form a sort of "compound verb" (the third example). Even more interesting would be phrases like *yIH muSbogh tlhIngan 'ej yIH HoHbogh tlhIngan yIH muSbogh tlhIngan 'ej HoHbogh yIH muSbogh 'ej HoHbogh tlhIngan yIH muSbogh tlhIngan 'ej yIH HoHbogh yIH muSbogh tlhIngan 'ej HoHbogh tlhIngan *...and so on. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name