On Mon, Jul 31, 2017 at 3:26 PM, mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:

Initially the law'/law' construction confused me, but finally I remembered that instead of the classic law'/puS, there are alternate versions such as the law'/law'. So, in this case the meaning obviously is "klingons are as varied as the humans". The choice of the double {law'} instead of a double {puS} obviously is made to express that both klingons and humans are "varied to a great degree". Instead of "varied to a small degree", which would be the case if we had a double {puS}.

A double {puS} construction doesn't mean "to a small degree", it means the comparison has negative connotations. {tlhInganpu' Sar puS Humanpu' Sar puS} would mean "Klingons are as varied as humans (and that's a bad thing)." Using double {law'} is a more value-neutral comparison.

This messed me up real good until I finally managed to figure it out. It must mean "as for one small society someone is usual, as for another small society another is usual". Although I still can't understand why you used {nughHom} instead of {nugh}.

I think it was intended to mean something like a subculture, a group which shares many of the cultural precepts of a larger {nugh} but has its own distinct differences from it.

Isn't here the {law'} on the {latlhpu'} somewhat redundant ? Doesn't the {-pu'} inherently mean "many" ? So, why say {latlhpu' law'} instead of just {latlhpu'} ?

{-pu'} means plural, not many. Two or three is plural, but not many.