tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 30 07:26:07 2004

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re: about

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

> > ghItlhpu' SIvten:
> >    {tlhIngan Hol'e' maja'chuq} "We discuss Klingon"
> >    {tlhIngan Hol'e' SoQ vImuch} "I present a lecture about Klingon"
> >         (basically "I present a lecture, and Klingon is the topic").
> >
> > po'wI'vaD: taQ 'e' boHar'a', pagh bolajlaH'a'?

Klingon is the topic of your sentence, not the topic of your speech.

"Regarding the Klingon language: I present a lecture."  You're saying you're
presenting a lecture, including the context that you're referring to the
Klingon language.  You are not saying that Klingon is the topic of your
lecture, though you are implying it by giving the sentence the context of
the Klingon language.

qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS.
You would be the greatest warrior in the galaxy.  (Star Trek 5)

This sentence consists of the following:

Locative: qIbDaq (in the galaxy)
Topic: SuvwI''e' (warrior[s])
Comparative: SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS (you are the most wonderful)

Think of the following English sentence:

"Warriors are strong.  They use weapons and fight battles.  There are many
warriors in Star Trek.  You're one of them.  You were able to defeat the
infamous Captain Kirk.  In the whole galaxy, you are the greatest."

In the last sentence, I didn't say what you were the greatest at, but you
already know that by the context of the sentence: warriors.  The topicalizer
suffix {-'e'} does this: it signals the topic of the sentence explicitly.

SuStel
Stardate 4245.4

Back to archive top level