[tlhIngan Hol] expressing "they are there"

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Wed Feb 17 06:28:20 PST 2021


On 2/17/2021 9:14 AM, Lieven L. Litaer wrote:
> It's okay to add the subject as a pronoun for emphasis. From TKD:
> {jIlujpu' jIH'e'} "I was ME who failed" (not someone else)
>
> So you might say {pa'Daq ghaHtaH ghaH'e'} to say that "it's him who is
> in the room, (not they)". 

No, this doesn't work. *jIlujpu' jIH'e'* is a basic sentence; *pa'Daq 
ghaHtaH* is a copula. The *ghaHtaH* in the copula is not a verb; it's 
the subject. And when you have a sentence like *pa'Daq ghaHtaH 
HoD'e'*/The captain is in the room,/ the *-'e'* there marks topic (what 
the sentence is about), not focus (making the word exclusive). That is 
to say, the *HoD'e'* in my sentence doesn't mean /the captain (not 
someone else);/ it means /as for the captain./

If any Klingons say things like *pa'Daq ghaHtaH ghaH'e',* it is 
completely unattested and does not follow any rules we have been given.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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