tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 15 12:58:14 2007

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Re: Positioning for emphasis

Robyn Stewart ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

I also see it as an ungrammatical (type-5s aren't supposed to go on 
the first noun of a noun-noun construction) but understandable, "He 
hits the CHILD's officer."

If you must put the subject before the object, try:

qIp puq'e'. yaS qIp.


At 08:44 AM 9/15/2007, you wrote:
>ja' QeS 'utlh:
>
> > How would you go about translating {puq'e' yaS qIp ghaH}, then?
>
>I'd translate it as "It is the child's officer he hits," and I'd note
>that it is not grammatically proper Klingon.
>
> > I can't make
> > any sense of it unless {ghaH} and {puq'e'} refer to the same thing.
>
>And I can't make any sense of it unless {puq'e' yaS} is breaking the
>rules to emphasize the first noun of a noun-noun (possessive/
>genitive) construction.  I see both interpretations as ungrammatical,
>though one is less grammatical than the other.  I see the type-5-on-
>first-noun interpretation as an error with an obvious intended
>meaning, but I don't see the displaced-emphasized-subject
>interpretation as sensible.
>
>In my understanding of Klingon grammar, subjects come at the end of
>the sentence.  The only exception is in a ritual toast, when a verb
>ending in {-jaj} moves to the end.
>
>-- ghunchu'wI'

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