[1513] in tlhIngan-Hol
more conjunction ambiguity
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Sep 10 03:31:43 1993
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: DSTRADER@delphi.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1993 02:25:48 -0400 (EDT)
X-Vms-To: IN%"tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us"
charghwI'vo' :
> wa' yIH cha' verenganpu' ghap DIHoH DIneH
....
>Even in English, this is ambiguous as to whether the "or" makes the
> combination singular or plural.
Firstofall the last word {DIneH} should be {wIneH}, but that looks
like a mere misprint.
WillMartin's ideas were considerably thought-provoking. But there
is a much more complex issue to deal with here. And that has to do
with person. Beyond only deciding if one or multiple grammatical
elements are involved, with the use of pronouns, the speaker may
not be certain which of a number of entirely different people were
involved. yIqel:
{mubach 'e' -nID tlhIH chaH ghap}
In this sentence, the speaker does not if the group to whom he is
>know
speaking or another group tried to shoot him/her. Whoever is being
spoken to is not admitting to any accusations. Since Klingon verbs
have to agree with subject AND object, I would venture to say this
uncertainty arises somewhat frequently. But it is a question of any
language that has such a verbal agreement. We know it must be either
bo- or lu- in this example, but what do Klingons make use of to get
around this? This doesn't appear to be such an issue among Terrans:
"Either you or he [is/are] allowed to go."
This is rare in English since verbal agreement for the most part
is restricted to the forms of "be" and third person singular
where -s is added.
The Klingon system is much more complex; *any* use of ghap would
evoke this sort of problem (unless, of course, the function is a
syntactic marker or something).
Dochvam qay'Ha'moH 'Iv
Guido#1 ---*
