On 1/26/2022 8:36 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
Thank you fergusq and lieven for replying.
fergusq:
'elaDya'ngan is same as 'elaDya' ngan, a noun-noun construction meaning "inhabitant of Greece" Initially, I thought the same. But I started wondering whether there was this subtle difference:
{'elaDya'ngan} = someone born, raised, and living in Greece {'elaDya' ngan} = someone living in Greece but who has come from another country
lieven:
Additionally, at qepHom 2019, Okrand said: "{-ngan} is generally translated as "people of", but it's more generally used to indicate a group of beings, not necessarily beings from a particular place. " Seemingly/apparently this means that the opposite of what I believed actually happens. {'elaDya'ngan} doesn't refer only to people born and raised in Greece, but to any other inhabitant too. And this shows that indeed there's no difference between {'elaDya'ngan} and {'elaDya' ngan}, as fergusq previously wrote.
No, that's not what it means. He's giving some wiggle room for, say, a *romuluSngan* who has never been to *romuluS, *but was brought up in a Romulan colony. Or a *tera'ngan* who was born and raised on the Moon. So *-ngan* as an element of a compound noun means something like /one of the group of people associated with living on/in./ *ngan* as a separate word means /inhabitant of./ A human being is a *tera'ngan,* but the human's cat is not a *tera'ngan,* though it is a *tera' ngan.*
lieven:
Note that Okrand wrote is using a hyphen. That does not mean it's a suffix per definition, but it shows that {ngan} is usually attached to the origin of people. This is very important indeed. The fact that 'oqranD chose to write {-ngan} instead of {ngan}, proves that we can freely attach it to any country/location/etc.
No, it doesn't prove that. Okrand may just have used the hyphen to indicate an element of a complex noun that comes at the end. It's not automatically an indication of productivity. I happen to think you /can/ freely attach it, provided it keeps the /people of/ meaning, but that hyphen isn't proof. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name