[Tlhingan-hol] KLBC: "Which" and uses of question words

[De'vID]

QeS:
>> We have no canon for {nuq} in noun-noun constructions, but I do think
>> it's possible to say things like {nuq taj} "the knife of what?", which
>> would parallel {'Iv taj} "whose knife?". Similarly, {taj nuq} would be
>> "what of the knife?". To contrive an example, {voDleH nuq vItlhapnIS}
>> would mean "what [thing] belonging to the emperor must I take?".

SuStel:
> Actually we have a couple of canonical sentences that show that {nuq} and
> {'Iv} can act like verbs in the same way that pronouns can, and Okrand
> confirmed this in an MSN post that I don't seem to have archived.
>
>    Dochvam nuq
>    what is this thing?
>
>    yIH nuq
>    what is a tribble?
>
>    jarlIj qaq nuq
>    what is your favorite month?

The last was not Okrand's example, but suggested to him by someone
else. In particular, Okrand explains that the expected answer to that
question isn't a month, but a definition of "your favourite month".

SuStel:
> I don't remember the {'Iv} example, if there was one.

{SoH 'Iv?} was on the Conversation Klingon tape.

Based on the idea from TKD 6.4 that {'Iv} takes the place of the
answer in the answer sentence, one might have expected this to be {'Iv
SoH?}. But this doesn't quite work, because the answer to {'Iv SoH}
isn't, for example, {Qel SoH}, but {Qel jIH}. Presumably, one can ask
{'Iv ghaH} and receive the answer {Qel ghaH}, though.

I'll reproduce the MSN post SuStel alluded to below. Note that Okrand
twice mistyped {qaq} as {qIb}, but clearly he meant {qaq}. He's
replying to someone named Kenneth (anyone know who that is?) who
suggested the sentence {jarlIj qaq nuq?} as a way to ask "What is your
favourite month?".

This is from an MSN post dated Dec. 12, 1996:
<<You suggested translating "What is your favorite month?" as:

jarlIj qaq nuq?

This one's a little easier to deal with.  Your sentence literally means
"What is your preferable month?"  The basic syntax is correct.  Question
words (in this case, nuq "what?") function the same way pronouns do in
questions with "to be" in the English translations.  Thus, the question
yIH nuq? "What is a tribble?" is exactly parallel the statement yIH 'oH
"It is a tribble" (where yIH is "tribble" and 'oH is "it").  The answer to
the question yIH nuq? ("What is a tribble?") would presumably be a
definition or description of a tribble.  This being the case, then, the
answer to the question jarlIj qaq nuq?  ("What is your preferable month?")
would presumably be a definition of "your favorite month." But this is not
what you want to find out by asking your question.  What you really mean
to ask is something like "Of all the months, which one do you prefer?"

The first word in your sentence, jarlIj, means "your month"  (jar "month,"
-lIj "your").  But given that what you're really asking is "Which month do
you prefer?" it's not really "your month" at all.  The "you" should go
with the verb, not with "month."

Which brings us to the verb.  You use qIb [sic], "be preferable,"  adjectivally
(jarlIj qIb [sic] is "your preferable month").  I think what you mean is better
expressed by using the verb maS "prefer" with "you" as the subject: jar
DamaS "you prefer the month."  If you want to highlight the notion of
"most prefer," you can use the emphatic suffix -qu': jar DamaSqu' "you
very much prefer the month."  (In this case, since "prefer" involves
making a choice, the one chosen is automatically the one that is "most"
preferred.)

So what about the "what" (or "which") of your original question
("What/which is your favorite month?")?  When asking someone a question of
this type, you are really asking him or her to make a choice.  So just be
a Klingon and order them to do so: "Identify the month that you very much
prefer!":

jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu'

DamaSqu'bogh "that you very much prefer" (DamaSqu' "you very much prefer
it" plus -bogh "which," the relative-clause marker) modifies jar "month"
and the whole phrase jar DamaSqu'bogh "the month that you very much
prefer" is the object of the verb ngu' ("identify"), which is preceded by
the imperative prefix yI- ("do something to it!").>>

-- 
De'vID