[tlhIngan Hol] Explicit pronouns again

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Sun Oct 11 06:05:04 PDT 2020


On 10/11/2020 8:32 AM, Luis Chaparro Caballero wrote:
> I asked this question a couple of days ago, sorry for asking again. I understood that explicit pronouns are used in order to clarify a sentence when it is ambiguous or difficult to understand. If we want to add some emphasis, we can use the pronoun with the suffix *-'e'*. But in the Duolingo course notes about pronouns and also at the Klingon Wiki (http://klingon.wiki/En/Pronoun) we can read that pronouns can actually be used in order to add some emphasis when the sentence is not ambiguous and therefore pronouns are not required. Now I'm a bit confused.

"Emphasis" means a couple of different things. It can mean making your 
voice louder or clearer so someone can better hear it. It can mean 
speaking more slowly so nothing is missed. It can mean making it clear 
that the word you're saying means what you want it to mean and not 
something else. There are a couple of different ways in which Klingon 
allows emphasis.

If you include a pronoun where you're not required to use that pronoun, 
the emphasis you're employing is making your sentence clearer. Someone 
might have missed your verb prefix, or the subject or object of your 
sentence might be ambiguous, so stating the pronoun outright clarifies 
things. You can also add verbal stress to a pronoun; you can't add 
verbal stress to a pronoun you don't say.

Examples:

*HIq vItlhutlh jIH*
/I drink the liquor./
In case anyone isn't sure who does the drinking, I make it clear that 
it's me.

*Dujvetlh ra' HoDvetlh. ghaH vIghoS.
*/That captain commands that ship. I go to him/her.
/Without the *ghaH,* it would be unclear whether I go to the ship or the 
captain.

If you use *-'e'* on a subject or object, the emphasis is that you're 
making the point that the word you used is exclusively correct. It's the 
thing you said, not something else.

Examples:

*veQDuj'e' ra' HoD
*/The captain commands the GARBAGE SCOW//(not some other ship)/.

*munuQ puq'e'
*/The CHILD (not someone else) annoys me./

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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