tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jul 15 11:09:32 2000
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RE: qep'a' SoQmey
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 10:55 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: qep'a' SoQmey
>
>
> In a message dated 7/10/00 4:27:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [email protected]
> writes:
>
> > Q: He is the third smartest student in the class.
>
> Ideas:
> ghojwI' val ghomDaq, wejDIch ghaH -- "Of the group of
> intelligent students,
> he is third."
I really don't like the use of the locative for this. I think we stretch its
function beyond its limits to do this. I'd read this as perhaps that he was
the third to arrive at the physical location of the group, or maybe the
group is waiting in line and he's the third one. Whatever the case, he is
third at the physical location of the group.
> val; patlh wej ta' -- "He is intelligent; he has accomplished
> rank three."
This shows more promise. I suspect that however Klingon does this some sort
of idiomatic expression exists, like "What time is it?" becomes {'arlogh
Qoylu'?} This guess at the right idiom feels like a pretty good one.
> ghomDajDaq, cha' ghojwI'pu' neH val law' ghojwI'vam val puS. -- "In his
> class, only two students are more intelligent than this student."
Clever. I like it, except for the locative. I honestly believe that {-'e'}
works better here than {-Daq}. The topic of this comparison is the class,
right? You are only considering members of the class. It doesn't matter
where they are physically located. Membership is a matter of participation,
not location.
Nouns with {-'e'} are used two different ways. They are either simply
emphasized, in which case they need to be subject, object or time stamp
because the {-'e'} would displace any other Type 5 suffix defining the
grammatical function of the noun in the sentence, or they need to be the
topic of the sentence. As topic, the noun could also be subject, object or
time stamp, or it can be independent of all these because "topic" is itself
a grammatical function. It gives the noun a reason to participate in the
sentence by linking it to the verb. So, if a noun appears in a "head noun"
position (as some here prefer to call the position in front of the object
noun) and it is not a time stamp, you can bet it is the topic of the
sentence.
I honestly can't think of a better way to indicate the scope of a comparison
than topic. It is perfect for the role. "As for the class, only two students
are smarter than this student."
> quljIb
charghwI'