tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 11 19:20:48 1999

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: KLBC: 'e' x-lu'??



jatlh ghunchu'wI':

> ja' HovqIj:
> >> It's possible that the intended meaning with {'e' X-lu'} isn't quite
> >> "one" or "someone" -- the translation uses English passive voice and
> >> not an impersonal subject.
> >
> >I don't understand. I thought that <-lu'> meant "indefinite subject",
> >i.e. "one" or "someone", in the first place, and that the passive voice
> >in English was only used for better style.
>
> The examples on TKW page 125 are both of the form <Y-lu' 'e' X-lu'>.
> Maybe the second {-lu'} is there in order to make the "indefinite"
> subject the same for both of the verbs; not just for parallelism of
> style, but for a specific grammatical meaning.

It might have been done for intensification purposes; even though I
don't know why the "indefinite subject" idea would have to be
intensified in those examples. Perhaps the grammatical function is
totally different. Yet, I suppose, if this specific construction really
has a certain grammatical meaning, it's merely some little nuance
(although I like those nuances if I know what flavor they add).

HovqIj

>

> -- ghunchu'wI'



Back to archive top level