On 1/26/2022 7:52 AM, Iikka Hauhio wrote:
*'elaDya'ngan *is same as *'elaDya' ngan*, a noun-noun construction meaning "inhabitant of Greece". For arbitrary reasons, people write spaces between some words and not between other words. Spaces are as unimportant as are commas, periods, and so on. You can use them if you want.
As per my previous message, I disagree. According to what Okrand said, *'elaDya'ngan* means a member of the people of Greece, a Greek, while *'elaDya' ngan* means an inhabitant of Greece whether they're Greek or not.
Some people are firmly against writing words together without spaces because they think it is same as "inventing new words". This is not true, it is just a matter of convention how to punctuate the Okrandian notation and has nothing to do with inventing words. In reality, people write noun-noun constructs together all the time without spaces, for example *SochleS*, *SuwomIyngan*, *mI'tej*, *ta'puq*, etc. etc.
yesusingspacesandotherkindsofpunctuationareaconventionbutsomeconventionsaremoreimportantthanothers On this list, the convention is to not forge new compound nouns where there is no precedent for doing so. Numbers attached to *leS, Hu',* and so on are attested in canon, as are nouns with *-ngan.* We have been given *mI' tej* (with a space) by Okrand, and people who attach *tej* or *QeD* to words are at least following an apparent pattern, even though it goes against our convention. (And you can do what you like if your compound is a proper noun.) Lieven was given special dispensation to write *ta'puq* and told specifically that it wasn't actually a canonical word. ("Maltz agreed that whatever it is, it's the word for this guy in the story and does not establish how it fits in with (native) Klingon words for rulers or government officials or the like." You wouldn't need a special note like that if you could freely form compounds like this.) Clearly, there is SOME process that turns noun-noun constructions into compound nouns. And just as clearly, that process is NOT "shove nouns together freely." Without more data on this, and we have very little, we do not create new compounds ourselves. It is the convention of this list, and most places you find Klingonists, that you use spaces to separate all lexemes (including their affixes) from each other. That includes nouns in a noun-noun relationship. If you want to create a compound noun, you'll have to convince everyone either that your compound is canonical or that there is sufficient evidence to show that creating a lexeme is warranted. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name