On 9/29/2017 12:25 PM, nIqolay Q wrote:
Here's a question: Since the implied subject of weather words is usually *muD* (or sometimes maybe *chal* for precipitation and the like), how would you all interpret *vungwI'*? Would you read it as the noun "hurricane", as in the part of the atmosphere that's hurricaning, considered as a single system? (So you could perhaps say something like */Florida/Daq ghoSlI' 'Irma' vungwI'* /"Hurricane Irma is approaching Florida"/, with the assumption that "hurricane" is treated like a rank or title.) Or would it be taken to mean something less specific or useful, like "the atmosphere as a whole, which happens to be hurricaning somewhere", assuming it means anything at all?
Okrand has famously been coy about what the subject of the weather verbs is. Sometimes it's *muD,* but only in the way a meteorologist would explain the science behind it. Generally they're used without subjects—not that they use indefinite subjects, though. You're supposed to "just know" what the subject is. I wouldn't assume that *vungwI'* is the noun form of /hurricane/ any more than I would assume that *SISwI'* is the noun form of /rain./ Instead of trying to turn it into a noun, use it as a subjectless verb. *tugh */Florida/*Daq vung; ghoSlI' */Irma./ -- SuStel http://trimboli.name