[Tlhingan-hol] KLBC: third-person subject of relative phrase

[John R. Harness]

No need to be sorry, basic questions are exactly the purpose of the KLBC
tag!

You're absolutely right that some of the Type 9 verb suffixes mark non-main
clauses. (I'd reserve "relative clause" for {-bogh}, but let's not get
distracted by that.)

Verbs marked with these type 9 suffixes work exactly as normal, and can
have a third-person subject. Just as you wrote in your excellent example
{yuch parmo' SoSwI'...}, the subject follows the verb as it normally would.
There is no special way to mark or set apart the subject in these cases.

yuch parmo' SoSwI' vIje'pu'be'.
Because my mother does not like chocolate, I did not buy it. -- Or, am I
buying my mother?

Context will guide you to the correct interpretation. These can be
ambiguous sometimes!

That's the basic answer.

Here are some more examples:

{Duj paw'be'meH HoD vIrI'pu'.} "So that the Captain does not impact the
ship, I hailed him."
{nguqmo' Duy'a' vInoS.} "I nibbled him/her/it because the ambassador is
arrogant." (Am I nibbling the ambassador? Unclear.)

It can get a little more complicated:

These sentences from The Klingon Dictionary section 6.2.3 illustrate ways
that -bogh can be used:

{qIppu'bogh yaS vIlegh} "I see the officer who hit him/her."
{yaS qIppu'bogh vIlegh} "I see the officer whom he/she hit."
{mulegh yaS qIppu'bogh} The officer whom he/she hit sees me."
{mulegh qIppu'bogh yaS} "The officer who hit him/her sees me."

Also, note how the topic marker -'e' can be used below to make it clear who
is being referred to by the main clause if the verb marked with -bogh has
both a noun object and a noun subject.

{nuv qIppu'bogh yaS'e' vIlegh.} "I see the officer who hit the person."
{nuv'e' qIppu'bogh yaS vIlegh.} "I see the person whom the officer hit.

I hope I got all of that right!
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