[Tlhingan-hol] Concerning the {'e'} topic suffix

[Felix Malmenbeck]

I believe you've confused the function of -'e' with the function of -bogh, possibly because the two often occur together.


-'e' marks a noun as the topic of a phrase, and is required for the subject of {ghaH}, {chaH}, {'oH} and {bIH}.


When you say {puqpu''e' qIp yaS.}, you're saying "The officer(s) hit the CHILDREN.", with emphasis on the children.


When you say {puqpu' qIp yaS'e'.}, you're saying "The OFFICER(S) hit the children.", with emphasis on the officer(s).


When using a sentence with -bogh (relative suffix; functions as "who", "which" and "that" in the sense that you're describing) and both a subject and an object, -'e' is sometimes used to distinguish which is being referred to.


{voDleH luchotta'bogh nuvpu''e' vIlegh.}

= "I saw the people (nuvpu''e') who murdered the Emperor (voDleH)."


{voDleH'e' luchotta'bogh nuvpu' vIlegh.}

= "I saw the emperor (voDleH'e') who was murdered by the people (nuvpu')."


Sometimes this isn't necessary, though:


{voDleH luchotta'bogh nuvpu' wIlegh.}

= "We saw the emperor who was murdered by the people."

(wI- specifies a singular object, and nuvpu' is plural, so it must be referring to the emperor, not the people)


{voDleH luchotta'bogh nuvpu' DIlegh.}

= "I saw the people who murdered the Emperor."

(Same reasoning as above, except DI- specifies a plural object)


________________________________
From: qunnoQ HoD <mihkoun at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2015 19:11
To: tlhIngan Hol mailing list
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] Concerning the {'e'} topic suffix

having just finished studying the pronouns,along with the {'e'} topic suffix,I can't help but wonder the following..

lets take these two examples,along with their given translations :

puqpu' chaH qama'pu"e' The prisoners are children.
pa'DajDaq ghaHtaH la"e' The commander is in his quarters.

As i understood the {'e'} means <<that>> ; so the above translations should be

the prisoners that are children (implying that there are prisoners too,who aren't children)
the commander that is in his quarters (implying that there is another commander as well,who isn't in his quarters)

alternatively (because i didn't quite understand,to whom the {'e'} is supposed to be shoved) the aforementioned translations could be modified as..

the children that are prisoners (implying that there are children,who aren't prisoners)
the quarters that have the commander within them (implying that there are quarters.that don't have a commander inside)

I'm confused by all these alternate possibilities.. Could someone please enlighten me ?
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