tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 08 17:36:48 1999

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RE: Hlchop (KLBC)

>... Fortunately, Klingon
>spelling is regular enough so that only one of the two possibilities makes
>sense. Once you get used to reading Klingon, it will be easy to tell which
>is which, except maybe in examples like <lIlI'lI'>.

Actually, this one isn't difficult either.

We can't start with a vowel so the first letter is (ell).

Thus the second must be (eye).

Third, we can't have another vowel.  We need another consonant after that
vowel (eye).  So third is (ell).

Fourth, could be either until you see the (') in the fifth position.  (') is
a consonant; and because the third is a consonant, the fourth must be (eye).

Fifth, (').  A consonant.

Sixth, could be either until you see the (') following the seventh.  We have
not yet seen a syllable's ending [consonant-consonant] grouping with (ell)
and (').  So seventh must be (eye).  We can't have two vowels together
(except for something with the suffix -oy.  But TKD p174: "It is a very
peculiar suffix because it is the only suffix that begins with a vowel
rather than a consonant {Though there are no examples, it is suspected that
for those few nouns which end in a vowel, ' is inserted before this
suffix.}"), so the sixth must be (ell).

Seventh, already astablished above to be (eye).

Last, (').  A consonant.


These same vowel/consonant rules also force the syllable breakdown to be
lI - lI' - lI'

Now you can look up these fragments in the dictionary.

This process is done in a matter of seconds.

DloraH

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