tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 06 19:37:23 1998

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Re: TYPECASE (Was Re: suffixes in comparative sentences, etc)

ja' Qov:
>I'm baffled as to how a part of speech Klingon doesn't have, can
>affect your perception of something in Klingon.  The suffix {-'e'}
>doesn't preclude using "the" in the translation. {HaqwI''e' DaH
>yISam}.  Find the *surgeon*, now."

The explanation of the non-locative "to be" in TKD 6.3 implies that the
object of the pronoun (proverb?) is a description of the subject.  It's
not identified as a copula.  Voragh did a good job recently of offering
relevant examples; the only one that doesn't fit my perceptions well is
{'entepray' 'oH DoS'e'}, but even that works if you translate it with a
"the" in its object:  "The target is the Enterprise."

I've been trying to formulate my understanding of pronouns as "to be" a
little better, and I think I might have something worth considering.  I
don't know if this is going to sit well with anyone else, but how about
thinking of it as effectively turning the object into a verb, along the
lines of {yaS ghaH} "be an officer" or {paq bIH} "be books"?  It is not
a perfect analogy to normal verbs, of course; the pronoun itself is the
equivalent of a verb prefix.

But that's why I like {pongwIj 'oH ghunchu'wI''e'} better than putting
it the other way around.  As for {ghunchu'wI'}, it is_my_name.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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