tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 26 20:13:37 2003

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Re: Dumb Question -- Emphasis

Sangqar (Sean Healy) ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

> > >Case in point, here at work, someone said, "Thanks" and I turned around
> > >and said, "No, thank *YOU*".  How would I convey that in Klingon?
> > >Admittedly this is a little silly, it's a question of verbal emphasis.
> > >But I think there can be some syntactical sugar there...
> > >
> > >   qatlho'  "I thank you"
> > >   SoH qatlho'  "I thank *you*"  ?
> > >   SoH'e' qatlho'  "I thank YOU!"  ?
> > >
> > >Is that last one even legit?
> >
> > It's possible.  Okrand has used {-'e'} on a pronoun twice AFAIK:
> >
> >    lujpu' jIH'e'
> >    I, and only I, have failed. TKD
> >    [sic, for {jIlujpu'} (unless it's clipped)]
> >
> >    'ach HoD, Hevetlh wIghoSchugh veH tIn wI'el maH'e'!
> >    But Captain, that course will take us into the [Great] Barrier as 
>well.
>ST5
>
>That first one is exactly what Paul is trying to do.

SoH qatlho'

sounds to me like "I'm thanking you (and not anyone else).

qatlho' jIH

sounds like "I (and not anyone else) am thanking you".

I think to get the full meaning of the English "No, thank YOU" (i.e., that 
reversal of the action), we need to emphasize both pronouns:

SoH qatlho' jIH

(and {-'e'} on one of the pronouns if you feel it needs more emphasis.)

>I tend to think that using a pronoun explicitly where it could be dropped
>isn't necessarily just for semantic emphasis, but is done to provide
>clarity.  /qa-/ has only one possible interpretation, but if you had a
>complex sentence, it might be too difficult to parse even with /qa-/.  You
>might help your listener along with an explicit pronoun.

I agree.  But I speak other languages where pronouns are optional, and in 
those languages, when you use an optional pronoun in a situatuion where it's 
not necessary for clarity, it does emphasize that pronoun.  And since, as 
you said, this sentences is so simple, no clarification is necessary, and 
including the pronouns will emphasize them, even without {-'e'}.

To me, this feels like a good translation of the meaning of the English:

ghobe', SoH'e' qatlho'(nIS) jIH

The {-nIS} feels like it would be right in some situations, but not in 
others.

Just my two cents worth.

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