[Tlhingan-hol] scope of {-be'} and {-Qo'}

[Felix Malmenbeck]

Aye, it is rather confusing. There's also examples like «yIQeqQo' neH! DoS yIqIp!» ("Don't just aim; hit the target!"); the -Qo' takes the whole phrase into consideration ("Don't merely aim!"), not just the verb it's affixed to.
[...as do some Type-9 suffixes, it seems.]

Another interesting example is «not qoHpu''e' neH ghIjlu'.» - "Only fools have no fear"; without that translation, I'd read it as "One never frightens only fools." [Though perhaps the -'e' makes all the difference: It's a statement about fools, not about scaring people in general.]

I'm not sure what to think about phrases like «batlhHa' bIvangbe'»; it feels wrong to me, but I'm not sure.
If you'd like to be on the safe side, consider constructions such as «bIvangDI' bIquvHa'be'».

________________________________________
From: De'vID jonpIn [de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 10:36
To: KLI
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] scope of {-be'} and {-Qo'}

What is the scope of {-be'}?  The sentence {Hoch DaSopbe'chugh batlh bIHeghbe'} always sounded just a little strange to me.  It sounds like "you will not die, with honour" (i.e., you will not die, and your refraining from dying is done with honour).

I recently wrote to someone who believes that he had committed a faux pas, {batlhHa' bIvangbe'; bIQagh neH}.  Now that I look at it though, it looks like I wrote "you did not act, with dishonour" (i.e., you did nothing, and it was dishonourable to have done nothing).  My meaning was understood, but I wonder if I could have phrased it in a better way?

I also wanted to say to someone, "Don't argue about X" (as general advice, i.e., stay away from topic X in a particular venue, e.g., X = politics, religion, OSes, programming languages, text editing software, etc.).

First, what is the object of {ghoH}?

I went with {Xmo' yIghoHQo'}.  But on reading what I wrote, my instinct wants to interpret this as "because of X, don't argue", i.e., X is a reason not to argue in general.  Again, what is the scope of {-Qo'} here?  How would you express the idea I wanted to convey?

--
De'vID