tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 21 05:35:15 2007
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Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007)
- From: "QeS 'utlh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007)
- Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:32:16 +1000
- Bcc:
jIja'pu':
>(I don't see why it shouldn't be interpreted) as "topic" in the same way as
>in Klingon {cheng'e' muqIppu'} "As for Chang, he hit me".
mujang 'ISqu', ja':
>I doubt {cheng'e' muqIppu'} is grammatical unless we assume
>that the noun <cheng'e'> is a stand-alone sentence fragment
>followed by a grammatically complete verb/sentence <muqIppu'>.
Yes, that's how I interpret it. A noun marked with {-'e'}, being Type 5,
should in theory be allowed also to stand sentence-initially as a header. In
a sense, its behaviour on nouns in situ is the anomalous one, not its
behaviour as a header.
taH:
>Although in TKD (3.3.5) the suffix {-'e'} is presented
>as the syntactic marker of the TOPIC of the sentence, the examples
>of its use provided on page 29 indicate that it functions as the
>marker of FOCUS, not topic.
The problem is that the examples from TKD that you cite don't demonstrate
the usage of an {-'e'}-marked noun as an unambiguous header (as opposed to
in direct object position). The examples Voragh cited - {cheng'e' DaH yISam}
and {qIbDaq SuvwI''e' SoH Dun law' Hoch Dun puS} - are incontrovertibly
being used as headers rather than as direct objects, and their
interpretation as *topic* arguments, and not focus arguments, seems the most
likely one.
>In linguistics, FOCUS is a term that refers to information, in a sentence,
>that
>- is new,
>- is of high communicative interest,
>- is marked by stress,
>- typically occurs late in the sentence,
This latter argument holds little weight when applied to Klingon, because of
its rigid sentence structure. As for the other points, you have no argument
from me.
<poD>
>Now, a TOPIC of a sentence is a noun phrase that expresses what
>the sentence is about, and to which the rest of the sentence is
>related as a comment.
>E.g.: _That new Mazda_, I?d like to test-drive it.
>(cf: www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsTopic.htm)
>Do we in fact have any canon examples of nouns marked with {-'e'} which are
>truly topicalized and appear in sentence initial position?
Yes, but Voragh beat me to the punch.
Ultimately, I see no problem in interpreting the {-'e'} suffix as being,
rather than *solely* focus or *solely* topic, encompassing ideas from both:
it places particular emphasis on a noun in the sentence, and when this noun
is a subject or direct object, that emphasis surfaces as focus; when the
noun is a header, it surfaces as topicalisation.
QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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