[Tlhingan-hol] do {vIttlhegh} become {ngo'} or {qan}?

[Bellerophon, modeler]

On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 9:03 AM, David Trimboli <david at trimboli.name> wrote:

> On 9/11/2013 7:42 AM, De'vID wrote:
>
>>
>> "The word {ngo'} in the phrase above means old as opposed to new.
>> Thus, it would be applied to objects or ideas, but not to animals or
>> people."
>>
>> It certainly rules out something like {nuv ngo'} or {tlhIngan ngo'}.
>>
>
> I see no "certainly" about it. Okrand wasn't ruling out all possibility of
> using {ngo'} with people; he is just explaining that when one it talking
> about an elderly person, the correct verb is {qan}, not {ngo'}. You're
> being too absolute with his text.
>

Even reading it literally, since KGT says {ngo'} can apply to ideas, this
might include roles or offices.

As for animals, how would one say "my new horse is older than my old
horse"? {?chu'bogh SarghwIj qan law', ngo'bogh SarghwIj qan puS} Of course
what's new or old isn't the sark, but its ownership, which might require
totally different phrasing.


>
>> The problem with {Qang ngo'} is that I'm not sure if it means
>> "(current) chancellor who has been serving for a long time" or "former
>> chancellor (who is no longer serving in that position)". Klingon makes
>> a finer distinction than English for "old (not young)" and "old (not
>> new)"; but it doesn't make the distinction between "old (not recent)"
>> and "old (not current)".
>>
>
> Context will give you this information, as it does in English.


On the other hand, is it safe to assume a Klingon would refer to a
chancellor as {?Qang ngo'} in either case? Speaking of someone no longer in
office we can say "former," and our usage of "old" is convenient but not
inevitable. {?Qang ngo'} isn't inevitable in Klingon, either. One way to
refer to a former {Qang} would be {Qang nubwI'}, or "predecessor of the
chancellor."

As for a long-serving {Qang}, can {nI'} be used in a phrase like {?Qang
nI'}, or only to modify a time period, like {poH nI'}?

~'eD
-- 
My modeling blog:          http://bellerophon-modeler.blogspot.com/
My other modeling blog:  http://bellerophon.blog.com/
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