tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 09 06:09:53 2003

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RE: the glottal stop

qaS jabbI'ID tIn; vaj:

>What direct object?  The verb prefix {ma-} specifically precludes the 
>presence of a direct object for this verb.  Just because Klingon word order 
>is OVS does not mean that any noun which (immediately) precedes a verb is 
>its object.  TKD, section 6.1 (p 60 in the English edition):

Now I'm confused. I had thought that the purpose of the {-'e'} suffix in 
Klingon was only to specifically mark a noun in a sentence out for emphasis, 
viz:

<<baHwI' leghpu' la''a'>> "the supreme commander saw the gunner"
<<baHwI''e' leghpu' la''a'>> "it's the GUNNER whom the supreme commander 
saw"
<<baHwI' leghpu' la''a''e'>> "it's the SUPREME COMMANDER who saw the gunner"
<<baHwI''e' leghpu' la''a''e'>> "it's the SUPREME COMMANDER who saw the 
GUNNER"

I had believed that a noun with the {-'e'} suffix merely stayed in place. 
One doesn't, after all, say *<<valDIr'e' tlhIngan ghaH>>, but <<tlhIngan 
ghaH valDIr'e'>> "Valdyr is a Klingon". If I'd known this, I wouldn't have 
had so much trouble recasting "what are we discussing?"


>Any noun in the sentence indicating something other than subject or object 
>comes first, before the object noun.  Such nouns usually end in a Type 5 
>noun suffix.

Again, I thought that the Type 5 noun suffix {-'e'} simply acted on nouns in 
situ.


>So if your verb does not have an object and it does have a noun with a Type 
>5 suffix (or indeed any noun that's not a subject or oibject, like maybe 
>{DaHjaj}), then that noun will immediately precede the verb (unless, of 
>course, something else intrudes, like maybe a purpose clause).

I don't know, I just don't know. Somebody, throw me a spear here! {{:S

Savan.

QeS lagh

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