tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 09 14:39:35 1999
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Emphasis
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Emphasis
- Date: Tue, 9 Feb 1999 08:50:30 -0500
From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
>pagh is of course correct in his explanation of the grammar, but I think he
didn't >really think through his original post. I have a stylistic quibble.
Using two types of >emphasis in one sentence is confusing:
>
> DaHjaj pablIj neH vIqel jIH
> Today, only I considered only your grammar.
>
>What are you really stressing here? The way it's written, the main
emphasis seems >to be (at least to me and 'oghwI') on {pablIj}: I only
considered your *grammar* (not >your literary style, choice of words,
spelling, Klingon spirit, etc.) with perhaps a >secondary emphasis on {jIH}.
If you really want to stress the subject - I and no one >else will be doing
this - you'd either need to omit {neH}:
Is that what pagh was saying? I read his sentence, correctly, as "Today *I*
considered only your grammar." I don't recall exactly what he meant, but
that's what he said. {neH} doesn't emphasize anything. After a noun it
means "only," "only that noun and no other."
Keeping the pronoun in doesn't simply mean you're emphasizing the pronoun.
It's making it very clear that the pronoun has significant bearing on the
sentence, so let's make sure you see it nice and clearly.
It is not the same thing as {-'e'}. I might keep in the pronoun in any
sentence where I thought the pronoun might clarify things. Doing so does
not indicate topic.
pablIj vIqel jIH.
I considered your grammar. (Got that? It was me.)
pablIj qel HoD'e'.
The CAPTAIN considered your grammar. (Hey, it was the captain, not anyone
else. The captain is the guy to talk to here. Don't look at me!)
pablIj'e' vIqel jIH.
I considered your GRAMMAR. (Not your boots, boy, your grammar! Yep, that
was me.)
pablIj qel HoD neH.
Only the captain considered your grammar. (Just the captain. No one else.)
My examples are not translations, so much as conceptualizations (so don't go
accusing me of making anything up). Leaving in a pronoun does not a topic
make!
SuStel
Stardate 99109.0