tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 29 10:43:21 1998

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RE: KLBC - Adverbials




>   DuraS tuq tlhIngan yejquv patlh luDub 'e' reH lunIDtaH DuraS be'nI'pu'
>    lurSa' be'etor je.
>   The sisters of the House of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor, are constantly
seeking
>    a higher standing for the House of Duras within the Klingon High
Council.
>
> (I can only find this one example, though I seem to remember another.
Anyone
> else?)

My database of canon is hardly as comprehensive as yours, Voragh, but I did
not find any futher examples of {'e'} or {net} with adverbials.  I did find
two interesting examples (both from TKW p125), though, not related to this
question:

	yInlu'taH 'e' bajnISlu'
	"Survival must be earned"

	yay chavlu' 'e' bajnISlu'
	"Victory must be earned"

Any good reason why these aren't {...net bajnIS}?  Anyone?  Anyone?

> {rut} would seem to belong in the clause it's modifying:
>
>   rut puqHommey vIghIj 'e' vIparHa'.
>   I like to sometimes scare the children.
>
>   puqHommey vIghIj 'e' rut vIparHa'.
>   I sometimes like to scare the children.
>
> A fine distinction, to be sure, but one Klingon is capable of making.

Yuck.  I really don't like this.  chaq jIvIng, 'ach wej vIlajrup.

> Perhaps the adverb is so placed because, in addition to being a pronoun,
> {'e'} serves the practical function of clearly separating the two clauses,
> which can be useful in long, complicated sentences.  Also, if you place
the
> adverb before {'e'} -- puqHommey vIghIj rut 'e' vIparHa' -- it sounds as
> though {rut} is the subject of {ghIj}, particularly if you don't recognize
> the word.

Not to me, it doesn't.  In fact, it sounds *SO* weird to me after the {'e'}
that I have a hard time parsing it.  It's costing me at least a double-take.
I've never had a hard time with it before the {'e'}, since it was first
brought to my attention by Krankor in HolQeD (was that 1:1, 1:2?).

> We may just have to accept this as idiomatic usage, in spite of
> the "illegal" position of the adverb *between* the verb and it's object.

When the canon so clearly violates our current understanding of grammar, I'd
seek clarification before coming to any conclusions.

> : Qov - Beginners' Grammarian
>
> Voragh

--Holtej



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