tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 19 06:38:19 2009

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Re: Question problem

Terrence Donnelly ([email protected]) [KLI Member]



--- On Mon, 5/18/09, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:

> 
> Basic Klingon sentence structure seems to be very
> amorphous. I picture
> it this way:
> 
> 	<header> <object> <verb> <subject>
> 
> where <header> is a nebulous blob containing all the
> bits that aren't
> the object, the verb, or the subject. Timestamps tend to
> come first,
> adverbials tend to come before nouns, question words tend
> to come before
> everything else. Of those tendencies, I think only the one
> about
> timestamps is explicit (TKD p. 179); the others probably
> come about due
> to our native language instincts. Strictly speaking,
> according to the
> book, timestamps tend to come first, adverbials tend to
> come last, and
> everything else appears between the two.
> 


I think this is right. Consider the phrase {DaHjaj ram}.  This could be a N1-N2 phrase used adverbially, "today's evening", or it could be two separate adverbials, "today, at night". I don't think it makes any difference; either interpretation is valid, and both show the flexible nature of the <header> section of a sentence.

-- ter'eS






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