tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 10 10:43:53 1998
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Re: X (pronoun) X'e' in other languages
- From: "Mark E. Shoulson" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: X (pronoun) X'e' in other languages
- Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 13:43:45 -0500 (EST)
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]> (message from David Crowell on Sun,1 Feb 1998 20:46:32 -0800 (PST))
>Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 20:46:32 -0800 (PST)
>From: David Crowell <[email protected]>
>
>Has anyone else on this list noticed that the way Klingon translates
>[noun-X is|are noun-Y] is similar to the way that Arabic,
>Classical=Biblical Hebrew and Maltese do?
>[noun-X pronoun(that agrees with the subject) noun-Y]
Sure. There was an interesting article about that in HolQeD not long ago,
by Nick Nicholas. Though note that in Biblical and also Modern Hebrew, the
linking pronoun-as-copula is optional in positive sentences, which is not
the case in Klingon.
>I think that Marc Okrand got this idea from these languages.
*shrug* Could be. Copula-less languages are pretty common, and so is using
pronouns to take their place. I think it grows out of emphatic
constructions (hence the -'e' in the Klingon): you start with Russian-like
"X -- Y", simply juxtaposing the two nouns to show they're the same thing
(common in Hebrew, Biblical and Modern, and even found in English: "I a
child, and thou a lamb..."), then emphasizing with a pronoun: "[as for] X,
it -- Y" (see Nick's article for mention of this movement of the topic).
~mark