tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 07 22:38:42 2000
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Re: Deixis and direction
jIjatlh:
> >Next, although we haven't seen an example (and there haven't been many
> >sentences I can think of where Okrand would have wanted to do this), it's
ve
> >ry, very possible that the following would make for a good Klingon
sentence:
> >
> >Duj'e' baHwI' vIHoH.
> >On the subject of the ship, I killed the gunner.
> >
> >The topic is the ship, and since the ship indicates something other than
the
> >subject or the object of the sentence (the subject is /jIH/ and the
object
> >is /baHwI'/), that noun becomes a "header" noun...
> >Now, as far as topics go, I haven't given them much thought until
recently,
> >and I'm willing to admit that my example sentence may not be the best
one.
> >I think, however, that this is why we don't often see topics as "header
> >nouns": it's hard to think of a topic which isn't also a subject or
object.
>
> qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS
> (You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy.)
> - Vixis to Klaa
>
> This shows something that looks like a topic which is neither subject nor
> object, especially since a {law'/puS} doesn't quite have subjects or
> objects.
YES! YES!! YES!!! BRAVO!!!!! Excellent citation, ghunchu'wI'!
Notice that in this (and probably others, I think) /law'-puS/ sentence,
we've got "header" nouns, but no object-verb-subject structure. I think
this is quite interesting.
I never understood the grammar of this sentence until you pointed this out.
I always thought it was just plain wrong. Now I see it as "location,
galaxy; topic, warrior; you are the most wonderful."
Wow!
SuStel
Stardate 518.1
>
> -- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh
>
>
>