tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 25 15:01:08 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: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:59:14 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' 'ISqu', ja':
>Based on the description of {?'e'} in TKD plus the canon
>examples of its use, {wa'ben'e' qatoy'taH} can still be
>interpreted as "It was a year ago that I was serving you,"
>the implication being that it was not, say, a month ago,
>(with -'e' marking focus, rather than topic).
Intriguing. The sentence-initial position of time stamps means that there's
no way for us to distinguish between the topic- and focus-marking functions
of {-'e'} here.
ja'taH:
>Besides, we do have words like {DIS} or {jar}, which refer
>to *periods* of time. That is why, to indicate
>duration in "I have served you for the past year"
>I would use {qaStaHvIS} (BTW I fail to see the merits
>of trying to use it less frequetly) and say either
> {qaStaHvIS wa' DIS qatoy'taH} or
> {qatoy'taH qaStaHvIS wa' DIS}
>To be really emphatic I might add an otherwise
>redundant (poH):
> qatoy'taH qaStaHvIS wa' DIS poH.
Doq seems to dislike this, but there's canon to back it up. "Century" is
{vatlh DIS poH}, found in HolQeD 8:3. In view of that form, I don't think
that {poH} here would particularly emphasise anything; instead, {wa' DIS
poH} might simply be an acceptable variant alongside {wa' DIS}.
>Obviously, not being a native-speaker of English, I might be wrong
>in my interpretation of the English words "ago/from now".
No, you're right. It looks like I was in error when I was talking about
ambiguity in these words. You learn somethng new every day.
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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