[Tlhingan-hol] Pronoun agreement in to-be sentences

[Robyn Stewart]

On 2012-06-26, at 13:01, David Trimboli <david at trimboli.name> wrote:

>> Why doesn't the disagreement "plural are
>> singular" bother me in English?
> 
> Because you're silently adding a plural noun after the adjective "plural"? "Plural nouns"?

I actually meant it as a template, but didn't stop to realize that it was a valid sentwnce of its own. I meant:

[plural concept] are [singular thing]

Skittles are my favourite thing ever.
Stories are a good way to shut kids up. 
Cellphones are an awesome invention. 

Maybe there are people who would reject all those sentences and demand "The cellphone is an awesome invention." 

> It also depends on your flavor of English. British English usually uses a plural "to be" when the copula references a singular group noun: "the group are happy." American English usually uses a singular "to be": "the group is happy." There are exceptions to both. I don't know how your Canadian English handles it.

We usually use the American way.

> The real question is, does the pronoun need to agree with the predicate or the subject of the sentence?

Exactly. ... or both. 

>> If I have him change it to:
>> 
>> nuHwIj nIvqu' bIH mu'mey'e'
>> 
>> ... then I've changed it to "Words are my best weapons."  If it were my
>> own sentence I'd do that, or even make it {mu'mey bIH nuHwIj nIvqu''e'},
>> but as it's someone else's sentence I don't want to say "it doesn't feel
>> right" or "it has to agree with both" unless there is something backing
>> me up. Do we have any canon copula sentences with the two parts
>> deserving different pronouns?
> 
> I'm not aware of any.

I don't think it's injecting my personal prejudice to tell him to switch out 'oH to bIH.