[tlhIngan Hol] Question about the focus / topic meaning of *-'e'*

[sustel trimboli.name]

> From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org> On Behalf Of Luis via
> tlhIngan-Hol
> 
> Some years ago I was discussing here the meaning of the suffix *-'e'* and I got,
> as always, very helpful answers. However, I find from time to time canonical
> examples that I cannot understand completely.
> 
> It would be great if someone could explain the meaning of *-'e'* in these two
> excerpts of the paq'batlh:
> 
> Dung qo’ lupawDI’ chaH
> qeylIS qorDu’Daj je ta’’e’ neH
> bop bommey
> (paq'raD 9, 4-6)

This is {-'e'} used for focus. Here it is with helpful punctuation:

Dung qo' lupawDI' chaH, qeylIS qorDu'Daj je ta''e' neH bop bommey.
As soon as they arrive in the upper world, it is only about the deeds of Kahless and his family that songs are about.

(This is awkward grammar in English, but in Klingon it is just the addition of a syllable.)

> veng ’elDI’ ghaH
> pawpa’ ghaH’e’
> paw lutDaj ’e’ Sov qeylIS
> (paq'raD 10, 1-3)

This is also focus. Adding punctuation and a bit of helping brackets:

veng 'elDI' ghaH, [pawpa' ghaH'e' paw lutDaj 'e' Sov qeylIS].
As soon as he enters the city, Kahless knows that his story arrives before HE does.

The first subordinate clause is a subordinate clause to the entire line. The second subordinate clause is a subordinate clause of the first sentence of the sentence-as-object construction.

Put another way, in the sentence as object, sentence 1 is {pawpa' ghaH'e' paw lutDaj} and sentence 2 is {'e' Sov qeylIS}.

Do not read the sentence this way:
veng 'elDI' ghaH, pawpa' ghaH'e', [paw lutDaj 'e' Sov qeylIS].

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name