tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Sep 17 07:23:30 2007
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Positioning for emphasis
RE: {HaqwI''e' DaH yISam} as a case of object-moving rather than
adverbial-moving
QeS 'utlh wrote:
> Out of interest, what are people's views on said proposal (forgetting
> subject-fronting for a moment)? If there's counter-canon, or if people
> disagree, I'd like to hear thoughts.
I happen to agree completely, and what ghunchu'wI' finds surprising I
find obvious — I've been thinking about it that way for years.
My current view of Klingon grammar is that its syntax is extremely
fluid, and that what TKD calls syntactic markers are better described as
semantic markers. The header is simply the dumping ground for everything
that doesn't fit into the otherwise rigid syntactic structure. The word
must have semantic meaning when it's in the header in order for it to be
useful. If it has an inherent time-meaning then it functions as a
timestamp, and is usually placed at the beginning of the header. If it's
an adverbial then its meaning is inherent and modifies the verb. If it
has a Type 5 noun suffix on it its meaning is explicitly marked.
Without some kind of semantic meaning it is unlikely that a word or
phrase would end up in the header — you wouldn't know what it was doing
in the sentence.
I also believe that a word's semantic meaning has little or no bearing
on its syntactic placement — I see no problem with putting timestamps or
locatives in, say, the subject position, provided it makes semantic sense.
So I see {HaqwI''e' DaH yISam} exactly as you have described it: "As for
the surgeon, find him now!" It could be rewritten thus:
{HaqwI''e' DaH ghaH yISam}. Heck, you could even write:
{HaqwI''e' DaH HaqwI''e' yISam}. Redundant, but grammatical.
You could NOT use *{HaqwI' DaH yISam} because {HaqwI'} is a header with
no indication of its semantic role.
SuStel
Stardate 7711.4