I’d like a clarification. I sometimes have false memories, so I won’t assume that my memory that {HochHom X} would be plural (more than half of whole 0items in the group of items called X) and {X HochHom} would be singular (more than half of one item called X). When before the noun, I thought {HochHom} behaved grammatically like a number, and when following the noun, it acted more like a second noun in a noun-noun construction. I thought that {Hoch} worked the same way.

I’m guessing this is similar to numbers in general, since {vagh X} is five Xs, but {X vagh} is a specific item from a group of items called {X}, so that numbers indicate degree of plurality when preceding nouns, and describe a specific, singular noun when they follow it.

Again, I can’t cite any canon. I’m not getting all puffed up and righteous about this or seeking conflict or challenging authority. I just thought I understood how this works, and I see a description that doesn’t fit what I thought I understood.

pItlh

charghwI’ ‘utlh
(ghaH, ghaH, -Daj)




On Jan 6, 2022, at 9:00 AM, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:

On 1/6/2022 8:09 AM, luis.chaparro@web.de wrote:
De'vID:


QInvam luHevpu''a' latlh? pIm'a' QIn?

*Spam*Daq tetlhvam lulochbogh HochHom QIn'e' vIHev, Landau Martin je QInmey vIHev je. pImbe'.

By the way, two short questions:

1. Should *HochHom QIn* be considered singular or plural?

Unclear. We might suppose that HochHom X follows the same rule as Hoch X: including a plural suffix means to take most of the X's as a whole, while leaving off a plural suffix means to take most of the X's individually. I would guess, in that case, that the plurality of the phrase depends on whether there is a plural suffix. But we don't know for sure if HochHom follows the same rule; I suggest it only as a default position to take.


2. I guess there is nothing wrong with *(noun noun je) + noun* as a noun-noun construction? Are there canonical examples?

Nothing wrong with it. A canonical example comes from paq'batlh:

vaSvamDaq
    tuq veng je quvvaD
    Heghqangbogh SuvwI' tu'be'lu''a'

Is there nobody in this hall
    Prepared to die for the honor
    Of your tribe and city?

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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