[tlhIngan Hol] SuStel please tell me, I need to know..

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Mon Jul 31 08:12:54 PDT 2017


On 7/31/2017 11:00 AM, André Müller wrote:
> SuStel, you used *-qu'* on *jatlh* to express not intensity of the 
> action or state the verb is describing (e.g. "speak a lot" or "speak 
> loudly" or "speak really well" which would have been possible 
> interpretations for me), but as an emphasis marker, like SPEAKING (as 
> opposed to anything else), sort of like topicalizing a verb.
>
> Is there canonical evidence for this usage? I'm currently in Myanmar 
> and didn't bring my TKD, so I can't check it easily now. But this 
> usage strikes me as odd. Usually so-called "intensifiers" cannot do 
> this in languages, but I don't know how Okrand described *-qu'* exactly.

 From TKD:

    *-qu'*/emphatic/

    This suffix emphasizes or affirms whatever immediately precedes it.

I'll simplify the quotation of the examples given.

    *yIHaghqu'*/study him/her well
    /*nuQaw'qu'be'*/they have not finished us off/

    The roving nature of *-qu'* can be seen in the following set:

    *pIHoHvIpbe'qu'*/we are NOT afraid to kill you
    /*pIHoHvIpqu'be'*/we are not AFRAID to kill you
    /*pIHoHqu'vIp'be'*/we are not afraid to KILL you/

    The first word above might be used after an enemy challenged the
    b4ravery of the speaker. The second might be followed by an
    explanation such as, "We are not willing to kill you because we
    require your services." The third word would be used to emphasize
    killing, as opposed to some other form of punishment.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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