[tlhIngan Hol] Noun marked with {-'e'} at the beginning of the sentence

nIqolay Q niqolay0 at gmail.com
Mon May 13 11:22:21 PDT 2019


On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 1:55 PM mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> But I wonder..
>
> If I want to say "the ANCIENT CATS are aliens", emphasizing the "ancient
> cats", but in an unmarked way, then how do I it ?
>
> If I just write {novmey bIH vIghro'mey tIQ'e'}, then the {vIghro'mey tIQ}
> is topicalized by the {-'e'}, but not emphasized..
>

This is probably the sort of thing that Morskans get real smug about. They
can just say *novmey bI vIghro'mey tIH'e'* and it means just what you're
looking for. However, if moving to Morska is out of the picture, you could
try putting extra stress or emphasis on the *-'e'*, or rephrase in such a
way that you can use an *-'e'* with no confusion.

As discussed, fronting the *-'e'* noun would probably sound weird and
ungrammatical, although in this case that weirdness might be its own kind
of emphasis. (As KGT puts it, "No one accepts such constructions as
grammatical; their inappropriateness, the way they grate on the Klingon
ear, is exactly what gives them elocutionary clout.")
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