tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 17 09:51:30 1998
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Re: KLBC - pabwIj vIlughmoH 'ej mu'tlheghmey chu' vIqon
- From: Robyn Stewart <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC - pabwIj vIlughmoH 'ej mu'tlheghmey chu' vIqon
- Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 09:53:32 -0700 (PDT)
---David Trimboli wrote:
>
> From: Robyn Stewart <[email protected]>
>
> >> jIH'e' = "ME ME ME and no one else!"
> >
> >Be aware that just including jIH when it isn't required already has a
> >certain emphasis.
> >
> >jIDoy' - I'm tired
> >jIDoy' jIH - As for me, I'm tired.
> >jIDoy' jIH'e' - "ME ME ME *I* am tired." -- kind of overkill
>
> I don't quite agree. {jIDoy' jIH} doesn't necessarily emphasize
{jIH}. It
> might be clarifying it. While it's true that the verb prefix {jI-}
makes
> only one subject possible, {jIH}, it is also possible that the
speaker might
> want to make the subject explicit, not to emphasize it, but to make
sure it
> isn't missed or confused, especially with a complex sentence.
>
> It is even more likely to happen with different pronouns. For
instance,
> consider the sentence:
>
> luHoH luneH 'ach Haw'.
>
> You *can* work out that this sentence means "They wanted to kill
him, but he
> fled," through prefixes and through logic, but the speaker may not
want to
> confuse his audience so much. Sometimes it is important to clarify
the
> subject or object with a pronoun, and still without any emphasis.
>
> luHoH luneH 'ach Haw' ghaH.
>
> This does not mean, "They wanted to kill him, but he, and not
someone else,
> fled." It means "They wanted to kill him, but he fled." The {ghaH}
is not
> there for emphasis, but simply for clarification of the subject of the
> second sentence.
This doesn't contradict what I said. It's the other perfectly valid
use of pronouns, and one that few people seem to have any trouble
with. Using the pronoun upgrades the amount of attention it gets.
It can upgrade it from "huh, not quite sure what's going on here" to
normal statement or it can upgrade it from normal statement to emphatic.
> If I wanted to emphasize the subject, I could add {-'e'}:
>
> luHoH luneH 'ach Haw' ghaH'e'.
> They wanted to kill him, but HE, and not someone else, fled.
>
> On the other hand, including the pronoun *could* emphasis the
subject or
> object if the sentence is clear and simple:
>
> ghung HoD. jIDoy' jIH.
> The captain is hungry. *I* am tired.
>
> I'd still add an {-'e'} to this most of the time, to add a little
punch.
> {-'e'} is more than just a grammatical device. It is a way of audibly
> marking a word for notice. Don't slur it into the word. Make sure
that
> when you say a word with {-'e'}, you make it loud and clear. You
probably
> wouldn't do this sort of thing for a pronoun without {-'e'}.
Good advice.
==
Qov - Beginners' Grammarian
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