tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 23 12:38:29 1998
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Re: RE:
This is worth everyone seeing twice. ghunchu'wI', you've outdone
yourself. This is good stuff.
charghwI' 'utlh
On Sun, 22 Nov 1998 08:42:11 -0800 (PST) Alan Anderson
<[email protected]> wrote:
> ja' Patrick Masterson:
> >wa'. Can you use questions as sentences for use with 'e'?
> >as in the following:
> >qatlh nuch HoH yaS 'e' vISov. (I know why the officer killed the
> >coward.)
>
> jang pagh:
> >Wow. Quite a choice for a first question...
> >
> >In any case, it is best just to avoid it until we know for certain.
>
> ja' charghwI':
> >This is a good answer in terms of telling him what not to do,
> >but he could probably use more help in terms of how to say this
> >while not doing what he is supposed to not do. I'll make a stab
> >at it.
> >
> >It does involve a bit of complexity, but I'd cast it as:
> >
> >"I know why the officer killed the coward."
> >
> >yaSvaD nuch HoHmoHbogh meq vISov.
> >
> >[Literally: "I know the reason which caused the officer to kill
> >the coward."]
> >
> >The reason questions don't work in a "Sentence As Object"
> >construction is that the pronoun {'e'} is supposed to represent
> >the entire preceeding sentence, but in your example, {'e'} is
> >not representing the question. It is representing the ANSWER to
> >the question.
> >
> >Think about it. You don't really mean to say, "I know that why
> >did the officer kill the coward?" now, do you? What is it you
> >know? You know the reason. The officer had a reason for killing
> >the coward. You know what that reason is.
>
> What we had here in the original attempt was a "sentence as object"
> with a question as the object. We know that doesn't work, but with
> one simple substitution it can be used as a pattern for something I
> think does work well. Instead of the entire sentence as object, for
> this idea we want a *reason* as object.
>
> qatlh nuch HoH yaS? meq vISov.
> "Why did the officer kill the coward? I know the reason."
> or "I know why the officer killed the coward."
>
> Similar appropriate objects can be used for other questions.
>
> nuqDaq yuch Dapol? Daq vIqaw.
> "Where do you keep the chocolate? I remember the location."
> or "I remember where you keep the chocolate."
>
> chay' HanDogh tI' chamwI'? mIw vIghojta'.
> "How did the technician repair the nacelle? I have learned the procedure."
> or "I have learned how the technician repared the nacelle."
> (This one is mildly ambiguous -- did I merely find out what he did, or do
> I now know how to repair it myself?)
>
> ghorgh mamej? rep vIlIj.
> "When do we leave? I forget the hour."
> or "I forget what time we leave."
>
> For sentences with "who" or "which", using the verb suffix {-bogh} is
> usually more appropriate than making it into two sentences.
>
> -- ghunchu'wI'