[tlhIngan Hol] does the {'e' qa'} express a preference supplemental

mayqel qunen'oS mihkoun at gmail.com
Fri Dec 3 03:03:15 PST 2021


Thank you SuStel and De'vID for replying. I think that finally I
understood the source of my confusion.

SuStel:
> Your proposed sentence has four independent clauses in it.
> Are you sure 'e' vImaS is referring to the correct clause?

Initially I didn't understand this. But then I read De'vID's comment:

> The problem here is that the {'e' vImaS} is too far away from the {tlhIngan Hol vIghoj},
> so that it sounds like {tlhIngan Hol vIghoj} is a statement of fact, not a preference. One
> is inclined to interpret this literally as "I learn Klingon; I prefer that it replaces that I learn
> Vulcan" (i.e., you're learning Klingon, and you prefer that this was instead of Vulcan,
> maybe rather than instead of something else like Romulan or something). It's very confusing.

Then I realized, that perhaps the mistake I was making was taking the
{'e' qa'} construction and using it as a whole, placing at the end the
{'e' vImaS} believing that everything was clear. I hadn't realized
that things would be so complicated.

De'vID:
> Why don't you just use the noun form of {'e' qa'}? {tlhIngan Hol vIghoj
> 'e' vImaS; vulqangan Hol ('e') qa'} "I prefer that I learn Klingon; it replaces Vulcan"

Indeed you're right! I totally forgot this option.

Again, thank you for taking the time to clarify this.

-- 
Dana'an
https://sacredtextsinklingon.wordpress.com/
Ζεὺς ἦν, Ζεὺς ἐστίν, Ζεὺς ἔσσεται· ὦ μεγάλε Ζεῦ



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