Dear speakers of Hindi & Urdu on YA,
Please consider the following two sentences,
which contrast only in the position of the emphatic particle [hii].
Then… match each sentence with
the translation that fits it the best, a) or b):
1) naukaR ne hii ghaRii curaa-y-ii.
2) naukaR hii ne ghaRii curaa-y-ii.
a) The SERvant stole a WATCH ! (shocking news!)
b) The SERVANT stole the watch ! (so he was the one after all !)
In point of fact, Ms. Meenakshi, you have dealt this silly problem the coup-de-grâce…
The contradictory answers I have collected elsewhere can all be put down to the fact that 1) is syntactically and semantically quite fixed, while 2) reflects at least two syntactic and corresponding semantic structures…
ouch, my head….
1-b . this is a very clear match.
2-a . but this is not so clear-cut. It all depends on how one vocalizes it; which syllables are emphasized; what sort of expression is used – exclamatory, questioning, statement-of-fact, absolute statement, gossipy….
for it to be Shocking, there has to be some conspiratorial tone, a disbelief. i don’t believe that the mere placement of HII in 2) is doing the job unambiguously. the tone has to be congruent with the words.
have i helped any?
i’m getting all muddled up myself !
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Well (2) naukar hii ne ghadi churaayi doesn’t seems to be correct. Translation for (1) will be (b).
References :
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:33 pm
1-b . this is a very clear match.
2-a . but this is not so clear-cut. It all depends on how one vocalizes it; which syllables are emphasized; what sort of expression is used – exclamatory, questioning, statement-of-fact, absolute statement, gossipy….
for it to be Shocking, there has to be some conspiratorial tone, a disbelief. i don’t believe that the mere placement of HII in 2) is doing the job unambiguously. the tone has to be congruent with the words.
have i helped any?
i’m getting all muddled up myself !
References :
March 2nd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I agree with Meenaksh. Merely changing the position of Ne and Hii is not going to make a profound change in the meaning of these two sentences except it is supported by different emphasis on these two words and supported by different expressions and toning.
In absence of these things we may however roughly say that sentence No 1 matches meaning no-b more and sentence No.-2 with meaning No. a
References :