tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 04 08:05:02 2006

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Re: {-Iy'} syllables (was Re: How do you say "pizza" in Klingon?)

QeS 'utlh ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' ghunchu'wI', ja':
>(I know we don't have any examples of syllables ending  in {Iy'}, so you 
>don't have to point it out.)

I would guess that this is just a statistical artefact; after all, we only 
have four attested examples of syllables ending in {-ey'} (i.e. {bey'} 
"display", {tey'} "parallel cousin", {tey'} "confide in" and {ley'} 
"forehead"), of which two are homophones and one is considered a "dialectal" 
term.

This is supported by the fact that complex codas seem to be, in general, 
less common than monoconsonantal ones in Klingon, both absolutely and in 
relative terms. The most common coda of all - the glottal stop - is attested 
in 89 of 105 possible syllables of shape {CV'}; however, {-y'} codas are 
found in only 34 of a possible 105. Interestingly, {-rgh} codas are rarer, 
at 29 of 105 possible {CVrgh} syllables. By contrast, 53 of a possible 105 
{-r}-alone codas are attested.

{-w'} codas are even rarer, with 15 attested (although that's admittedly a 
little skewed, since there are only 63 possible {-w'}-final syllables due to 
the neutralisation of {-ow} and {-uw}). Oddly, every single attested {-w'} 
coda is found in conjunction with the vowel {a}: no syllable of shape {Cew'} 
or {CIw'} is yet known.

Maybe Klingon generally abhors complex codas when the vowel is {I}? It's 
interesting to note that in addition to the total lack of {CIw'} and {CIy'} 
syllables, there are only two known {CIrgh} syllables, {chIrgh} and {SIrgh}.

QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pabpo' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
     - Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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