[Tlhingan-hol] To-Be-Constructions

[David Trimboli]

On 3/31/2012 2:25 PM, Lieven Litaer wrote:
>
> Do you see any difference between
> {A 'oH B-'e'} and {B 'oH A-'e'} ?
>
> Going one step further, how do you say "My name is X", and why do you
> not use the opposite word order of what was your first choice?

Although the "to be" construction is fixed, it is still related to using 
{-'e'} to mark a topic. The second noun phrase is the topic of the "to be."

SuStel 'oH pongwIj'e'
My name is SuStel
As for my name, it is SuStel

If you remove the topic, you still have a related sentence.

SuStel 'oH
It (whatever it is I'm talking about) is SuStel

Whether you can reverse the order depends on what you're talking about. 
Some sentences still make sense when reversed, but you're talking about 
something different.

pongwIj 'oH SuStel'e'
As for SuStel, it is my name
(You'd say this if you were talking about the name SuStel, as opposed to 
the original sentence, in which you were talking about "my name.")

Since question words are also pronouns, and since pronouns can act like 
verbs, question words can act like verbs (Okrand has confirmed this.) We 
have both {'Iv SoH} and {SoH 'Iv} from Okrand. If there are rules 
governing this, they are not explained.

-- 
SuStel
http://www.trimboli.name/