[Tlhingan-hol] Inherently plural nouns and numbers

[Brent Kesler]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 6:07 AM, ghunchu'wI' 'utlh <qunchuy at alcaco.net> wrote:
>
>
> I can think of only one thing that's even slightly relevant to the
> question. "Always trust your instincts" is translated as {Duj
> tIvoqtaH} in TKD's appendix, and "Trust your instincts" is translated
> as {DujlIj yIvoq} in KGT. Apparently {Duj} can be construed as
> inherently plural and thus grammatically singular, but it doesn't have
> to be.
>
> -- ghunchu'wI'


TKD: I think this is more a case of leaving off the plural ending and
letting the verb prefix indicate the noun's number.

As for KGT, it may seem strange to say "Always trust your instinct" in
English (what? I have just one?), but I see no reason why the concept
of instinct has to be plural. How many times do we say things like "I
know it by instinct"? Not instincts, not one particular instinct, just
instinct.

bI'reng