[Tlhingan-hol] Conjunction, copula, gender

[Lieven]

Am 04.02.2016 um 19:34 schrieb SuStel:
> First, in the {wa' Dol} line, we have the pronoun agreeing with the
> subject but not the object. {wa' Dol} is an {'oH}; {qa''e' porgh'e' je}
> are plural.

Let's write this down as a rule, or at least as a guideline.

Actually it's nothing surprising, since pronouns can be translated as 
the verb "to be", so it is the subject that rules over the verb. 
Literally "they are something." Since klingon syntax is backwards, the 
verb (pronoun in this case) logically follows the subject.

> Second, we know that a {qa'} is capable of using language, but the
> combination {qa' porgh je} has gotten the pronoun {bIH}, which indicates
> no language ability. A {porgh} is undoubtedly an {'oH}, not a {ghaH}, so
> the conjunction of these two "genders" has led to the less
> language-capable one controlling the pronoun.

So either Okrand made a mistake, or we can write it down as a rule, 
which does make sense IMO. In te french language, a group of girls is 
femal, but when it's a mixed group of boys and girls, then the group is 
male: "ils sont la".


-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
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