tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 03 08:01:01 2006

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Re: How do you say "pizza" in Klingon?

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



[Apologies if I've got the attributions wrong. There are a lot of crossed 
quotations in this thread!]

lay'tel SIvten:
>And at least one answer to the original question "How do you say 'pizza' in
>Klingon?" is simply {*pizza*}.

SuSvaj:
>"Pizza" doesn't work.  There is no "z" sound.

ghunchu'wI':
>What doesn't work?  "Pizza" has no "z" sound in the first place, so
>that's a silly argument.  And it doesn't apply anyway, because he's
>not suggesting that the word be respelled to fit the typical Klingon
>phonology.  It's just being borrowed directly.  Just like saying
>"croissant" in English, which lacks the distinctive nasal vowelish
>sound at the end.

QeS 'utlh:
>nuqjatlh? DIvI' Hol mu' *pizza* jatlhlu'DI' /z/ wab Qoybe'qu'lu'. mu'vetlh
>'oSmoHlu'meH *{pItSa'} vIlegh, 'ach vIpar. yaplaHbej {chab}. {Ha'DIbaH chab}
>"meat pizza", {chab Sar} "supreme pizza", *{Haway'Iy chab} "Hawaiian
>pizza"... All depends on how specific you want to get.

lay'tel SIvten:
>It doesn't matter how it's pronounced.  It's a borrowed word,and a Klingon
>would most likely just substitute the sounds he felt were closest.  I suppose
>one could say {pIja' chab}.

SuSvaj:
>The convention I hear most often is pIja'.

QeS 'utlh:
>..."We tell you"?

SuSvaj:
>As for your comments I beg to differ.  Depending on regional pronunciation
>"Pizza" is pronounced with either a "z" or an "s".  Neither of which exists
>in Klingon.

lay'tel SIvten:
>What regional pronunciations?  I've only ever heard it pronounced (in English,
>not Italian) as /pi:ts@/, with an unvoiced /ts/.  No /z/, and not really a
>/s/, either.

Some speakers voice the /ts/ as /pi:dz@/ and for those who insist on 
transcribing words using Okrand's system, you could use /DS/.  DloraH once 
transcribed Jadzia as *{jeDSIy'a}.

But FWIW we do have a example from canon:  The Klingon name {matlh} was 
transcribed by "Federation Standard" speakers as Maltz.  (Granted, Klingon 
{tlh} is also heard as /th/:  e.g. {qolotlh} Koloth.)  Also, the KLI's "The 
Klingon Hamlet" rendered Rosencrantz as *{roSenQatlh}.   So there's 
precedent of a sort.




--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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