tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 05 02:49:49 2002

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RE: KLBC: adverbials and {'e'}

ja' Sean Healy:

>>tlhIngan Hol ghojqang puqloDwI' qen 'e' wuq ghaH.

> Something I've been wondering about is how to know whether an adverbial 
> refers to the {'e'} sentence or the main sentence.  I thought that nothing 
> could go between the {'e'} and the sentence it represents.  If this sentence 
> is well-formed, then this problem is solved for me.  Does anyone have a 
> source showing that adverbials (or indeed anything else) between {'e'} and 
> the sentence it represents are kosher?

<'e'> is the object of the second verb. Normally, adverbials, timestamps and other similar things precede the object, so the expected place for the adverbial <qen> to go would be just *before* the <'e'>. Krankor actually wrote one of his first columns on this very topic, and it was something of a revelation at the time, but now it's common and accepted usage.

Just to confuse things a bit, Okrand has shown through use (and explanation, I believe) that adverbials can *follow* <'e'> and object nouns marked with the suffix <-'e'> (e.g. <HaqwI''e' DaH yISam>). He has never, however, said such usage is required.

pagh 'utlh

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