tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 07 12:11:41 1996
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Re: DI'vI' Hol
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>Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 04:15:22 -0700
>From: "Kenneth Traft" <[email protected]>
>Since the language of the Federation is "Federation Standard", I think that
><<DI'vI' Hol>> is a good rendering of "Federation Language".
I was fooled at first as well, but the word is actually "DIvI'", not
"*DI'vI'". I think there may be canon for "DIvI' Hol" for "Federation
Standard"; is there?
>tlhIngan Hol = Klingon language
>verengan Hol = Ferengi language
>DI'vI' Hol = Federation language
>vulqan Hol = Vulcan language
>romuluS Hol = Romulan language
Hrm. Interesting. I'm inclined to like "DIvI' Hol" but I'm less sure
about the others sans -ngan. Your point is pretty good that maybe too much
is made of the -ngan on tlhIngan, and that languages can be said to belong
to the planet (I guess by metonymy, since the people are associated with
the planet). Then again, there is something a little different between
"DIvI' Hol" and "?romuluS Hol." The Federation is a political entity, with
its own opinions and rules. What's more, it is nothing *other* than a
political entity; you can't point to a spot in space or a physical object
and say "That's the Federation." Fed Std is the language which that entity
has chosen as its standard. It is very much the Federation's language, the
language of that entity, which is capable of passing judgements in and of
itself.
It could be argued (not necessarily that it MUST be so argued) that
Romulus, on the other hand, is a planet. A chunk of rock and dirt and
water and gasses. Oh, it's *associated* with some race of beings who came
by later on and settled there (remember they didn't evolve on Romulus, but
I could make the same argument if they did), but it's just a place. It
can't be said to have chosen any language; planets don't speak. The
*people* there have a language, sure. It's the language of the
*inhabitants* of Romulus; they're the ones who made/chose the language.
That's something of a Devil's Advocate position; I'm really not sure how
"bad" (if at all) "romuluS Hol" would be. It DOES seem, from tlhIngan Hol,
that -ngan is sort of expected for languages. Okrand never intended
"tlhIngan" to be the name of the Klingon homeworld (apparently he never
intended Qo'noS to be it either, but that's what happened. He had a list
of three or four that he submitted to someone-or-other to choose, and I
think one was even chosen, but it never made it to the screen. No, I don't
know what the list was, nor which was chosen. He mentioned it once at a
panel discussion. I somehow doubt he'll tell us.)
~mark
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