Am 20.05.2019 um 14:57 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
What I'm wondering though is this: Assume we have a N-N-N-N (quadruple noun construction); are *all* combinations possible ? i.e. (N-N)-N-N, N-(N-N)-N, N-N-(N-N), (N-N-N)-N, N-(N-N-N) ?
Of course, I would never use something like that in a real text, but I would like to understand how this actually works.
A row of nouns can usually be translated as "Noun#(n) of Noun#(n-1)" and this may go very long. 3 or 4 nouns in a row even is nothing special, think of {tlhIngan wo' SuvwI'} or even {tlhIngan wo' DevwI' juH lojmIt} "The gate of the home of the leader of the empire of the Klingons" It would be strange if you wanted to think about what parts of this may have a different meaning and I can actually not think of anything that may have a different meaning. As someone else said already, punctuation may be helpful in long phrases, such as {muSuch vav jup, SoS HoD je.} = 2 people {muSuch vav, jup SoS, HoD je.} = 3 people {muSuch vav jup SoS, HoD je.} = 2 people {muSuch vav jup SoS HoD je.} = 4 people -- Lieven L. Litaer aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany" http://www.klingonisch.de http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/NounNounConstruction