tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 07 16:54:39 1996
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Everyones still askin' 'bout consonant clusters...
- From: david barron <[email protected]>
- Subject: Everyones still askin' 'bout consonant clusters...
- Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 16:54:16 -0700 (MST)
Here is an unaccepted article for HolQeD Paul Clegg and I did
that may contributer to this topic of consonant clusters.
Phoneme Sequences for One Syllable Klingon Words
by David Barron and Paul Clegg
This is a relatively simple question "As we understand
Klingon phonology how many possible Klingon words *COULD* exist?"
Limiting the search to one syllable words an accurate discription
is needed of Klingon phoneme sequences.
For one syllable words we have CV, CVC, CV+y' and CV+w'.
Thus for the first Consonant the options are:
b, ch, D, gh, H, j, l, m, n, ng, p, q, Q, r, S, t, tlh, v, w, y,
and ' .
21
and the vowels a, e, I, o, u,
5
C V
Thus 21 x 5 = 105 CV combinations
Now for CVC I am going to add rgh as a possible phoneme of the *LAST*
C and excluding ow and uw as stated in TKD pg 17.
C V C C o/u w
Thus (21 x 5 x 22) - (21 x 2 x 1) = 2268
Adding y dipthong possiblites with '.
C V y '
Thus 21 x 5 x 1 x 1 = 105
Then add the dipthong w' possiblities but as stated in TKD pg. 17
ow and uw don't occure in tlhIngan.
C V w '
Thus 21 x 3 x 1 x 1 = 63
Total possible combination of one syllable words are 105
2268
105
+ 63
-----
2541
It was suggested that I might make my calculations easier by adding
ay, ey, Iy, oy, uy, aw, ew, and Iw to the combination of Vowels
but that would allow for the existance of words like <Qayp>, <tlheyn>,
and <bawp> and there is no evidence of a Consonant ,other that ',
ending a word after a dipthong.
Once a list exists of all possible one syllable Klingon words one can then
combine them to form all possible two syllable words.
As far as the limitations of two syllable Klingon words are conserned
there is also no evidence of Klingon words that have a V that follows a '
at the end of a word, with the exception of constructs like Duy'a',
I will therefore assume this is unseen in Klingon phonology.
The program to generate these words was designed by Paul Clegg. Deleting of
words from the list which are present in TKD was done manually.
This list was generated in two sweeps. To do this the alphabet was
divided into 5 parts.
C1 for the first consonant b, ch, D, gh, H, j, l, m, n, ng, p, q,
Q, r, S, t, tlh, v, w, y and '.
Total C1 = 21
C2 for the second consonant which deleted y and w and added rgh,
and null (no consonant).
Total C2 = 21
V for vowels a, e, I, o and u.
Total V = 5
D for dipthongs aw, ay, ey, Iw, Iy, oy, and uy (excluding ow and uw).
And C3 which include ' and null.
Total C3 = 2
The first sweep C1 x V x C2 = 2205.
The Second sweep C1 x D x C3 = 336.
The following is a list of all possible Klingon words generated using
the phoneme sequencing described above with all words that are in TKD and
mentioned in HolQeD deleted.
David Barron [email protected]
Klingon Language Postal Course, PO Box 37, Eagle ID 83616
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