tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 26 05:42:56 1998
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Re: Some Grammar Questions
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Some Grammar Questions
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 08:42:52 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> from "JEFF ZEITLIN" at Feb 25, 98 02:38:14 pm
According to JEFF ZEITLIN:
>
> 1. Compound Imperatives
>
> If the objects of two sentences are the same, is it
> necessary to repeat the common object, or may the
> sentences be combined:
>
> qama'pu'li' yISaH - Care about your prisoners!
> qama'pu'li' yIQorgh - Care for your prisoners!
>
> Given those two sentences, is
>
> qama'pu'li' yISaH 'ej yIQorgh
>
> permissible for "Care about your prisoners, and care for
> them!"?
Yes. This is fine.
> 2. Topicalization with 'e'
>
> Is it acceptable/proper to use this construct to convert
> a multi-word sentence into a noun phrase?
>
> jagh boHIvmeH Dup bolo' - You use strategy to attack the enemy.
>
> becomes
>
> jagh boHIvmeH Dup'e' bolo' - the strategy that you use to attack the enemy
No, this does not work at all. In this case, you have merely
emphasized the word {Dup} so the sentence would still be a
sentence and it would mean, "You use STRATEGY to attack the
enemy," which sounds to me like an emphatic answer to a
question like, "Do we use strategy or firepower to attack the
enemy?"
You were trying to build a relative clause. For that, you'd
say, {jagh boHIvmeH Dup bolo'bogh}. Now, you have the noun
phrase you wanted. The function of {-'e'} in a relative clause
is to disambiguate the head noun when necessary. This is useful
because of the following example built on yours:
jagh HIvmeH Dup lo'bogh SuvwI' vISov.
Does that mean, "I know the strategy which the warrior uses to
attack the enemy," or does it mean, "I know the warrior who
uses strategy to attack the enemy."? Well, we can't tell. If we
add {-'e'} to one of the two potential head nouns, we make it
clear:
jagh HIvmeH Dup'e' lo'bogh SuvwI' vISov.
I know the strategy which the warrior uses to attack the enemy.
jagh HIvmeH Dup lo'bogh SuvwI''e' vISov.
I know the warrior who uses strategy to attack the enemy.
I hope this clarifies this.
> --
> Jeff Zeitlin
> [email protected]
> ---
> OLXWin 1.00b An improper mind is a perpetual feast.
>
>
charghwI'