[83907] in tlhIngan-Hol
Topic (was: Specifying distance traveled)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Trimboli)
Wed Jan 9 20:20:04 2008
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 20:16:10 -0500
From: David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name>
In-reply-to: <E4C9AF5E-7B86-449F-A09B-98B1A1A51B95@embarqmail.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Doq wrote:
> I did not intend to be hostile. I did intend to challenge you, since
> you were so generous in your challenges to me without offering any
> positive example of how {-'e'} should be used, since you considered my
> examples of {-'e'} to be erroneous.
>
> I can't say I'm impressed with your single example, since you
> basically used it in apposition with a pronoun in the sentence. That's
> a baby step away from using it on a noun following a pronoun used as
> the verb "to be". If that's all we can do with {-'e'}, then it is not
> very useful, indeed.
>
> I wish you would offer a more extensive lesson in the use of {-'e'} so
> that I and others can learn how to use it well, since I'm apparently
> using it so poorly.
Lesson? I'm no more of an authority than you are. Your tone has changed
and suggests you're upset with what you think is a holier-than-thou
attitude on my part. That is not my intention or attitude. You're free
to agree or disagree with me as you like. There is no single, absolutely
correct answer here.
I'm sorry you don't like my example, but that's EXACTLY what -'e' is for
— marking a topic. You're right about it being similar to the topic
marker on a "to be" sentence — thus my earlier insistence that that
isn't just an arbitrary rule: the topic of a "to be" sentence REALLY IS
a topic.
And it IS useful... for marking topics. (And emphasizing non-topic
nouns.) That's all it ever claimed to do. That's why you can't do with
it what you're trying to do. You're using -'e' as a
relationship-I-don't-have-a-suffix-for-but-really-want-to-add suffix,
and it isn't one.
By the way: everything I write is my opinion. I am not endowed with the
Gift of Fact. I just don't care to write "I think" and "in my humble
opinion" everywhere. As we all learn in grade school, such locutions are
in poor style. Naturally, we're all expression our opinions. When
something comes down to me from on high, I'll document the source
properly and let everyone know.
SuStel
Stardate 8024.7
--
Practice the Klingon language on the tlhIngan Hol MUSH.
http://trimboli.name/klingon/mush.html
