On Feb 18, 2019, at 09:15, mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:
When it comes to klingon, which of the following is the correct choice ?
{qatlh choQaHmeH vIghro'lIj vIje'nIS ?} {choQaHmeH qatlh vIghro'lIj vIje'nIS ?}
On 2/18/2019 9:30 AM, Jeffrey Clark wrote:
Interesting question. Both of those Klingon sentences make sense to me. I think that {qatlh} should go at the head of the whole sentence as usual, since the -meH clause is just a clause rather than a stand-alone sentence itself; and qatlh in the middle just looks… odd… to me intuitively.
Except I would expect the *qatlh* to go at the beginning of the /clause/ of which it is a part, not the sentence as a whole. I see subordinate and purpose clauses as less closely connected to the main clause, and not actually a part of it — they're different clauses. Imagine you instead asked, /Why do I need to feed your cat if I help you?/ *qaQaHchugh, qatlh vIghro'lIj vIje'nIS? qatlh vIghro'lIj vIje'nIS, qaQaHchugh?* I think mayqel's comprehension problem comes from the fact that he uses parenthetical phrases /a lot,/ and he's trying to do it here. *qatlh — qaQaHmeH — vIghro'lIj vIje'nIS?* As a bit of extemporaneous explanation this would be just fine, but do too much of that and your high school teachers will start marking you off for poor style. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name