[83861] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: Du' naH
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan Webley)
Sun Jan 6 03:19:40 2008
From: "Jonathan Webley" <jonathan.webley@uwclub.net>
To: <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 08:14:08 -0000
In-Reply-To: <799C4FC2-A898-4DD3-B8CE-506EBD748F17@embarqmail.com>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
ja' Doq:
> So, would others consider {Du' naH} to be an uncountable noun? By
> that, I mean that there is no plural form -- that like {Duran lung
> DIr}, you would never put a plural suffix on it.
I think "produce" in English is a mass noun, hence uncountable. It has no
plural and refers collectively to some number of fruit and vegetables.
"Fruit" is like "fish" - countable and uncountable. Like {ghotI'} I think
{naH} can take a plural.
I would guess that {Du' naH} is a mass noun.
However, perhaps Klingon is different to English. If we are comparing
European states we would say "European economies". Because "produce" is
uncountable we have to say "produce of European states". Perhaps the Klingon
translation of the latter would use a plural form of {Du' naH}, something
like "European produces", implying that we are taking about the total
"produce" of individual states?
Jon
