tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 08 16:13:16 1996

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RE: Syllable Structure



On Sunday, December 08, 1996 5:28 PM, Oliver 
Pereira[SMTP:[email protected]] wrote:

> I've been wondering about <Ha'DIbaH>, as well as <yuch>... I've decided
> that it's probably a borrowing from English! :-) It is very similar to 
the
> word "animal", especially if pronounced by one of those Klingons who
> pronounce <D> as <N> and <b> as <m>. It even has the stress on the right
> syllable! I would have thought that if it was a native word, especially
> since it would be quite common, it should only have one syllable.
>
> Is it because some actor used the word "animal" in some "Star Trek" film,
> and then someone decided that it should be in Klingon instead, so Marc
> Okrand had to make up a word to fit the actor's lip movements? I just 
read
> an explanation similar to this for some Klingon speaking to their
> computer, and it seems to fit this too.

A very good hypothesis!  We have Kruge saying /Ha'DIbaH/ to the gunner who 
destroyed the ship, after he instructed him to "target engines only!"  (I 
don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I remember him saying this 
word).  I'd be willing to bet there's a good chance this was done in 
English, and dubbed Klingon later, following your supposition.

> 'olIva'

--Holtej
Stardate 96939.11



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