tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 03 12:24:17 2003
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Re: New Member/Syll... correction
ghunchu'wI':
>Assimilation is nearly unknown in Klingon. The only example we have is
>where a trailing {n} or {ng} has apparently been dropped when forming a
>compound with {ngan}:
>
> {vulqan} + {ngan} -> {vulqangan}
> {orghen} + {ngan} -> {orghengan}
Two other *possible* examples are
{tlhIng} + {ngan} -> {tlhIngan} "Klingon"
Okrand has never AFAIK explained the etymology of {tlhIngan}, but {tlhIng
yoS} "Kling District" is a place on the Klingon homeworld. (The renegade
Korris spoke disparagingly of "the traitors of Kling" in TNG "Heart of
Glory". What he meant by "Kling" has never been officially explained and
has been discussed ad nauseam here and elsewhere.)
*{vereng} + {ngan} -> {verengan} "Ferengi"
We have no idea what the Klingon name for the Ferengi homeworld,
Ferenginar, is. (As it happens, the Trek writers only came up with
"Ferenginar" halfway through DS9's run - long after the publication of TKD
- so it seems that even they weren't sure what to call it for all 7 seasons
of TNG and the first few seasons of DS9.)
>There is absolutely no reason to expect vowel assimilation. Klingon
>phonology avoids abutted vowels quite effectively.
For example, {lIghonngan} "Ligonian". Cf. KGT (p.141):
A name for the inhabitant of a planet (and, therefore, the name of a
race of beings)
is formed by adding {ngan} ("inhabitant") to the planet name (excluding
the number,
if any): {lIghonngan} ("Ligonian"), {tera'ngan} ("Earther, Terran"),
{romuluSngan}
("Romulan").
However, he goes on immediately to say that
(Actually, there is some phonetic variation here.
"Ligonian" is often
pronounced {lIghongan}, dropping the final {n} of {lIghon} before the
initial {ng}
of {ngan}. This is not considered an error, only an alternate
pronunciation.)
This may imply that we shouldn't be surprised to hear some (older or more
careful?) speakers actually say *{vulqanngan} and *{'orgenngan}.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons