On Wed, 10 Nov 2021 at 15:07, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
On 11/10/2021 7:50 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
And so on. So I don't think you'd combine
*yaS luHoHpu'* and * 'a be' luHoHpu'be' je*
in this way. Here, you're changing both the object and the verb.
Just say *yaS luHoHpu' 'a be' luHoHpu'be'** They killed the officer but they didn't kill the woman.* The *'a** but* handles the unexpectedness of the woman not also being killed. If you wanted to emphasize the exception, you could say something like *yaS luHoHpu' 'a yIntaHbe' 'e' luchaw'** They killed the man but they permitted the woman to live.*
I can see how the example sentence might have come about, though. Suppose I were to say: {yaS luHoHpu'. be' luHoHpu' je.} "They killed the officer. They killed the woman also [i.e., they killed the woman, in addition to the officer]." Nothing controversial there. Now suppose that I'm reporting back to someone who is expecting me to say the above. Maybe I'm a hostage negotiator and things are going badly, and I leave the building where the terrorists have just killed at least one hostage to report to the police chief. I say: {yaS luHoHpu'. 'ach be' luHoHpu'be' je.} "They killed the officer. But they didn't kill the woman also [i.e., kill the woman, in addition to the officer]." I don't even think the English sentences sound strange here. If you think of it as applying {je} to the negated sentence, then it looks like too many things have changed at once for {je} to be applicable. But I think of the above example as applying the {-be'} to {be' luHoHpu' je}. And I don't think the meaning is quite exactly the same with {'a} but no {je}. There's a difference between "They didn't kill the woman" and "They didn't kill the woman also", namely, one of emphasis. "They killed the officer, but they didn't kill the woman" is a matter-of-fact statement. "They killed the officer, but they didn't kill the woman also" has the implication that "things could've been worse". I don't think there was anything wrong with the Klingon sentence and it could make sense in context. -- De'vID