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

[Bellerophon, modeler]

Let me reiterate, I wasn't seriously proposing that nuq can replace the
verb in a sentence the way it replaces nouns. 'a Hoch nuH vIqel vIneH.

Until yesterday, I hadn't even considered the possibility that it could go
anywhere except in place of the noun that answers the question.
Constructions like <Dochvam nuq?> don't appear in TKD. I had never noticed
the reference to CK in the definition of nuq at Klingonska Akademien. In
<Dochvam nuq?> or <nuq Dochvam?>, nuq actually replaces both the noun and
pronoun-as-verb, which makes for a simpler expression. But once I saw nuq
replace a verb, I didn't want to discard an unexamined possibility that it
could replace other verbs, and generate a question which asks for the
action to be identified.

TKD's exact wording is:

For {'Iv} <who?> and {nuq} <what?> the question word fits into the
sentence in the position that would be occupied by the
answer.

I really don't think MO intended this to mean the question word can replace
anything but a noun, since his examples only show the noun being replaced.
But a question word could replace a verb as easily as a noun. English
doesn't have such a question word, so it uses longer constructions like
"What is the officer doing to the child?" Sometimes you may hear, "You
what?!" but it's short for "You did what?" But I'm deliberately trying to
avoid unconsciously applying English rules to Klingon. It's also an
interesting thing to consider on a meta-conlang level. So I ask.

My expectation is very strongly that nuq cannot replace the verb. *<puq nuq
yaS?> certainly sounds confusing, which is why I phrased it *<puq nuqtaH
yaS?> to make it clear I was sticking nuq into the verb's position. But the
main evidence seems to be that there are no canon examples, and that chay'
can be used with more general verbs like vang, ta', nID, Hech, and neH to
form questions of the "What's he doing?" sort, as TKD suggests with {chay'
jura'?}.

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