i'm almost certain this has been discussed in the past, but I don't remember what had been decided. Do we say {Duj 'ar wIghaj}, or {Duj 'ar DIghaj} ? I'd tend towards the latter, since what we're actually asking is, "how many ships do we have ?". But I'd like to know, if there's a definite answer with regards to this matter, or it's just another "use the force" problem. ~ qnqnqnn
On 9/12/2019 9:10 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
i'm almost certain this has been discussed in the past, but I don't remember what had been decided.
We don't "decide" anything here, we just discuss.
Do we say {Duj 'ar wIghaj}, or {Duj 'ar DIghaj} ?
I'd tend towards the latter, since what we're actually asking is, "how many ships do we have ?".
But I'd like to know, if there's a definite answer with regards to this matter, or it's just another "use the force" problem.
*'ar* hasn't been used much. It appears in *nIn 'ar wIghaj*/How much fuel do we have left?/ in several sources. In other places it's used the prefix doesn't distinguish singular or plural. *nIn 'ar wIghaj* isn't terribly helpful, since *nIn* /fuel/ is clearly a mass noun. So unless there's an example I can't think of, we don't have anything conclusive. I tend toward *Duj 'ar wIghaj,* because the noun that *'ar* is attached to is not allowed a plural suffix, so why not avoid a plural prefix as well? -- SuStel http://trimboli.name
On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 9:32 AM SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
So unless there's an example I can't think of, we don't have anything conclusive. I tend toward *Duj 'ar wIghaj,* because the noun that *'ar* is attached to is not allowed a plural suffix, so why not avoid a plural prefix as well?
David makes an interesting case, though I don't know that I agree with it. Rather, I think this is a great opportunity to subtly indicate the attitude of the speaker and take advantage of the rule that nouns don't need to be marked with a suffix to be seen as plural. Imagine a scenario in which our speaker has been told to prepare for a hopeless battle. In one version, the speaker is depressed but realistic. In another version, the speaker is crazily optimistic. Something like this would go a long way to driving the pronoun choice (at least for me). That said, David has spent much more time pondering this and similar details of grammar. I'm just popping in because this one caught my attention. Lawrence
participants (3)
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Lawrence M. Schoen -
mayqel qunen'oS -
SuStel