Am 11.10.2017 um 17:13 schrieb nIqolay Q:

What's interesting to me is that one of the first canon sentences for {vItlh} (from the Smithsonian Air and Space tour app) was a law'-puS construction: {DoDaj vItlh law' wab Do vItlh puS.} I wonder if it was coined specifically to avoid using {law'} twice in a row.

I think it's the difference in the definition: They are talking about speed, especially the amount of speed measured in numbers.

The speed was higher, but they were stil ltalking about ONE speed. Using {law'} "be many" would mean that they are talking about several speeds, in plural.

{DoDaj vItlh law' wab Do vItlh puS.}
"The speed is higher than the speed of sound"

{DoDaj law' law' wab Do law' puS.}
"His speeds are more than the sound's speeds"

In SkyBox S32, we see 'ul law' which gets translated highly-charged. I'd expect 'ul and Do to be treated similarly in this regard. Obviously, the answer is that Okrand just hadn't thought of vItlh yet, but here we're not expected to think of this as many (different) electricities. I don't think Do law' would automatically mean many (different) velocities just by that logical alone.

Now that we have vItlh, that's obviously the better choice for things like this. But you can't completely rule out using law'.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name