tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 16 08:07:07 1998
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{'e'} vs {-'e'} (Was: veS)
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: {'e'} vs {-'e'} (Was: veS)
- Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1998 08:04:32 -0700
At 03:43 98-04-16 -0700, was written:
} toj 'oH veS 'e'.
DO NOT PUT A SPACE BEFORE THE NOUN SUFFIX {-'e'}!
I've seen this error three or four times in recent KLBCs and corrected it
each time. This time I'm going to hammer on it a bit.
When I write {'e'}, I am talking about a special pronoun, whose ONLY known
use in the Klingon language is described in section 6.2.5. This {'e'} is a
separate word, and we don't have any examples of it taking suffixes, so as
far as we know it always stands alone, always looks just like: 'e'. There
is no other word or construction that looks like that. If you write
"space-tick-e-tick-space", then a sentence-as-object MUST precede it, and a
verb that can reasonably take that sentence as its object MUST follow it.
If you write it in any other Klingon context you've done something wrong.
{ngoDvam boyajlaH 'e' vISov}. For example, do not use it in pronoun as to
be sentences.
When I write {-'e'}, I am talking about a type 5 noun suffix. There is never
a space between a word and its suffix. I always denote suffixes with a
leading "-" when I mention them in isolation. The use of {-'e'} is to
denote or emphasize a noun as the topic. It is required in the "pronoun as
to be" construction when nouns are equated with what would be a copula in
English. That is, when you say "something/someone IS something." {Qov 'oH
pongwIj'e'}.
Note that when the noun already ends in a {'}, as in {nuqDaq 'oH
puchpa''e'}, there is a double {''} in the result. Look at the sentence on
p. 170 and see that there is no space beteen the double stops.
Does anyone have any questions?
At the risk of confusing everyone, I'll summarize in Klingon:
{'e'} 'oHbe' {-'e'}'e' 'e' vImaqqa'!
The post that triggered this I will respond to separately.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian