tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Oct 20 13:45:19 1996

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Re: tlhIngan Hol in "Looking for par'Mach..."

Adrian K writes:
>I thought that tlhingan Hol syllables were strictly
>constanant-vowel-constanant, excluding certain pairs like rgh. I'd also
>think that par'mach is illegal. Is this a sign that, like English, Klingon
>rules aren't always followed?

There's absolutely no doubt that the Klingon rules are sometimes broken!
However, they are usually broken by people who don't know the language.

With rare exceptions, most snippets of tlhIngan Holqoq that have appeared
on TV (TNG, DS9, even Voyager) have violated the rules as we know them.
The important point to remember is that the episodes were written and/or
produced by people who do not *know* what the rules are, and are thus not
bothered by breaking them.

Consider that Trek *science* breaks the rules of science as we know them,
yet we forgive most of the blatant transgressions with the rationalization
of "dramatic license".  We basically must do the same with Trek *language*
(i.e. "Klingonese").  Think of the sounds that come out of the mouths of
the actors portraying Klingons as the audio equivalent of "greeking" and
you'll be a lot happier.  I know I am. :-)

-- ghunchu'wI'

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