tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 07 13:11:25 2011
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Re: mu'tlheghvam yIlughmoH
It's probably a good time to stop using {'e'} with questions, okay? It really doesn't work. Trust me on this. You don't really mean, "We don't know that question yet." You mean "We don't know THE ANSWER TO that question yet." The pronoun {'e'} does not represent anything but the previous sentence -- the WHOLE previous sentence. It doesn't represent part of the previous sentence or the answer to the previous sentence. It represents the entire previous sentence, as stated.
You could just drop the {'e'} in all of these and you'd be fine.
chay' yInlIj van? Wej jISov.
batlh Hegh'a'? wej maSov.
In addition to avoiding the Question As Object problem, this simpler grammar also avoids the ambiguity of the word {wej}. Since the prefix doesn't involve a direct object, you can't mistakenly think that it means "three" instead of "not yet".
You are using the pronoun {'e'} as if it were your only tool and you are treating every problem as if it were a nail.
pItlh.
lojmIt tI'wI' nuv
On Jan 7, 2011, at 3:43 PM, Ruben Molina wrote:
>> "chay' yInlIj van? wej 'e' wISov."
>> (van'a' pagh Dor'a')
>> wej qaS wanI'. yIn ghaH. Hegh
>
> [ghangpu' QIn]
>
>> wej qaS wanI'. yIn ghaH.
> batlh Hegh'a'? wej 'e' wISov.
>
> ruben
>
>
>