Some time, a long time ago, in another thread I had asked more or less exactly the same questions.

Many replied, many things were said, no useful results were made, no light was shed on this matter, and finally, after we got even more confused than we were at the beginning of that thread, we agreed that since a lot of information with regards to the grammar of {ngIq} is still unknown, it is essentially useless.

qunnoq

On Sep 6, 2017 18:21, "Brent Kesler" <brent.of.all.people@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 9:45 AM, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:
Some examples of {ngIq} for comparison:

ngIq nuv luHoH
they killed the warriors one by one. ('u'-OPERA)

yerchajvo' Haw' qamchIynganpu' ngIq nuv luHoH
The people of Qam-Chee, they fled their territory, and were killed one by one (PB)

nIteb chegh molor ngIq ghoqwI'
One by one Molor's scouts return (PB)

ngIq raQvaD cha'maH vagh QaS yInob
For each outpost pay 25 forces. (MKE)

ngIq gholvaD vaghmaH QaS yInob
Pay each player 50 forces. (MKE)

ngIq gholvo' wa'maH QaS yItlhap
Collect 10 forces from every player. (MKE)

BTW notice the absence of {-taH} or {-qa'} on the verbs.


In these examples, "each" would make a good gloss for {ngIq}. But there are other examples that don't fit that idea, also from paq'batlh.

     ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej tIqDu' lel
     ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej quvqa'
     ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej rIn may'

     In one single move, he removed the hearts
     In one single move, he restored his honor
     In one single move, the battle was won

That makes the meaning of {ngIq} almost always ambiguous.

Why does {ngIq nuv luHoH} mean "They kill each person" instead of "They kill a single person"? 

Why does {nIteb chegh molor ngIq ghoqwI'} mean "one by one Molor's scouts return" instead of "Molor's single scout returned alone"?

Why does {ngIq tonSaw' lo'} mean "In a single move" instead of "With each move"?

I don't like that ambiguity, so I avoid {ngIq}.

bI'reng

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