[tlhIngan Hol] Referring to the entire preceding passage

[nIqolay Q]

On Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 10:00 AM, mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> maj.
>
> However, now, this question comes to mind: Why did 'oqranD write
> {DaSovbej'a'} instead of {'e' DaSovbej'a'} ?
>
> After all, we have the response of 'a'Setbur "my father didn't want that",
> which I don't remember how it was exactly given in klingon, but I remember
> it utilized a {'e'} to refer to the entire preceding speech she was
> referring to.
>
> qunnoq
>

Azetbur wasn't referring to the whole preceding dialogue with {'e'}, just
the sentence Kerla had just said in reply to her. The Klingon Wiki has the
dialogue: http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/ST6

Azetbur: *notlh veS... 'a tugh manotlhchoH je maH.* *War is obsolete,
General. As we are in danger of becoming.*
Kerla: *QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS.* *Better to die on our
feet than live on our knees.*
Azetbur: *'e' neHbe' vavwI'.* *That wasn't what my father wanted. *

She might have just been using it for emphasis, in the same way you can add
an explicit {jIH} even if the pronomial prefix includes the first person
singular. Maybe using {'e'} like that is only common among the upper
classes. But I don't think you're going to get a very specific answer on
why Chang didn't use {'e'} with {DaSovbej'a'}.

It seems that the most obvious difference between {chay' 'e' DaSov}, {chay'
DaSov}, and {chay' bISov} is how explicit or emphasized the thing being
known is -- the first version uses an explicit pronoun, the second only
mentions it in the prefix, and the third doesn't mention it at all. In this
case, the correct choice of which to use is probably just up to the
speaker's preference of how specific to be.

Without further information on the subject, I don't think there's anything
to be gained by obsessing over whatever other subtle differences in meaning
these phrases may have, other than perhaps a headache. Pick the one you
think sounds best and move on to the next line to translate.
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