tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 14 13:23:05 1996

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Re: Rampant Punctuation

In a message dated 96-06-13 09:49:19 EDT, Dave S. wrote:

>>>Should English punctuation be used in tlhIngan Hol?
>
>SuStel replies:
>>They use something called
>>{pIqaD}, which we don't know much about.
>
>Hm.  I'm not sure I want to agree with you just yet.  I'm very familiar with
>pIqaD and the notion that it may be incomplete and therefore allow for
>possible
>symbols for punctuation that have yet to be seen.

Do you mean the pIqaD that can be found on the KLI's webpage or in various
symbols shown in Star Trek?  Remember that the mapping of letters that the
KLI supports is completely unsanctioned by anyone.  As far as I'm concerned,
it's just fun to look at.  I even like seeing a few titles in this
pseudo-pIqaD.  However, I've never learned to read it, because it's not
"official."

>I might grant you the ambiguity of Roman letters argument, but if we have no
>punctuation "discovered" within the pIqaD, then we have no evidence that the
>Roman letters we use in order to communicate Klingon onto paper have any
>limitations.

But when we use the Roman letters, we *aren't* using pIqaD.  Perhaps you are
assuming that for each sound of Klingon there is one and only one pIqaD
symbol used?  And that therefore, for each punctuation mark we use in the
Roman letter transcribing system, you'd need an equivalent mark in pIqaD?

I'll put it another way: suppose Klingon pIqaD is not a simple sound
transcription system?  What if each symbol represents syllables, or entire
words?  Since we have no way to determine this, we have no way to tell if the
pIqaD needs punctuation or not.  However, as long as we're using the Roman
system to transcribe *sounds* only, you may need punctuation to put pauses or
inflection in the sentence which the words themselves don't show, but which
you say.

>I understand the Okrand = canon ideal and all [. . .], but I'd
>challenge
>him on his punctuation usage.  As Teresa Wells states in her masters thesis
>on
>tlhIngan Hol (and I paraphrase), Okrand goal was to create a decidedly alien
>language.  The whole structure of tlhIngan Hol reflects this.  Except for
the
>English punctuation.  If you'll notice, adding English punctuation is a
>relatively recent phenomenon -- you'll not find a single mark of punctuation
>on
>anything tlhIngan Hol in TKD.

I guess that that's partly because the sentences he writes in TKW are a bit
more complex.

SuStel
Stardate 96451.5

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