[tlhIngan Hol] noun with {-'e'} before the {... law' ... puS}

[SuStel]

On 11/19/2018 1:28 PM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
> {qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS}
> You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy
>
> I would like to ask, with regards to the {SuvwI''e'}; does it mean "as 
> for (a) warrior, you would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy", or 
> does it mean "as for warriors, you would be the greatest warrior in 
> the galaxy" ?

Yes.

It makes no difference in Klingon.


> If a noun marked with the {-'e'} is placed before a {noun A X law' 
> noun B X puS} construction, then the number of that noun (i.e. 
> singular or plural), has to be the same with the number of "A" or with 
> the number of the "B" ?


Neither. The phrase is a topic, not a direct antecedent of anything else 
in the sentence.

I could, for instance, say *Hegh'e' lomvam He'So' law' lomvetlh He'So' 
puS*/As for death, this corpse stinks more than that corpse./ I might 
have been talking about life just before this sentence, and now I'm 
switching to talking about death. Maybe we'd been discussing how 
decaying bodies bring life to soil, whatever. The point of *-'e'* at the 
beginning is to introduce the topic of the sentence, to tell the 
listener what the sentence is about.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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