tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 16 00:02:05 1993

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Re: Birthright Song, Dave`s take on it.



>Since someone brought up the subject I again, I offer the reconstruction I
>have of the song...
>
>			teblaH;        neH ghu
>			mu' ghaH;      toD 'u'
>			yaj'a';		*qeyoH
>			yaj'a';		 qeyoH
>			yaj'e';		 qeyoH
>
>Mot-pour-mot translation:
>It can fill it; the baby wants it.
>It is the word; the universe saves.
>||:Greater understanding; let us be brave. :||
>This understanding; let us be brave.
>
>Deeper translation:
>The youthfulness inside of us seeks of us
>	To fill that which resides within.
>Exploring the universe shall save us;
>	This is the word known to all.
>Let us be brave and find great understanding.
>Let us be brave and find great understanding.
>This understanding shall find we are brave.

That's all fine and well, but, as I recall, Worf eventually *gave*
us a translation, and this wasn't it.  If you are going to try to
claim that this mess should be considered real Klingon, then you
can't just ignore the translation.

>In listening to the song, (and having studied voice once long ago) I can
>relate that glottal stops would be omitted when singing (to prevent choking!),
>and that final H might tend to evanesce into the Black Fleet.

No sympathy here.  At the camp, we absolutely sang the glottal stops
during the Klingon anthem.  We managed not to choke.  However, the
glottal stops are a universal pronounciation problem, so it probably
makes no sense to expect the actors to sing them when they don't
even say them.

>I understand that everyone seems to have just concluded that the song is not
>Klingon, but I do not think that is the solution we should accept.  All 
>Klingon appearing on the screen should be taken as real.  This was *the* 
>guiding premise that Marc Okrand used.  We should try the same.

No way.  Not in my book.  From that position, it logically follows
that if they run a show in which they claim that, oh, all English
nouns are completely legal for Klingon, including English
pronounciation, that we should accept that too.  Sorry, I do not
give Paramount carte blanche to go blithely making up whatever silly
thing is convenient for a single episode.  If/when Okrand sanctions
something, fine.  But, as I understand it, he was not even consulted
for this bastard song.  Marc Okrand is a professional language
person who has designed the whole tlhIngan Hol language, understands
what it's about, and is qualified to determine what is/isn't
tlhIngan Hol.  Joe Whoever at Paramount does not know thing one
about the language and is not even qualified to join this list.  If
Okrand wants to backfit the song into the language, I'll grudgingly
go along, but in truth, I hope he does not.  Until then, if forced
to acknowledge the song at all, I'll assert that it is either some
ancient, dead Klingon language, or some utterly different dialect
which totally does not resemble tlhIngan Hol as we know it.

I feel rather passionately about this issue.  I think it totally
sucks rocks that they did *not* bring Okrand in to work on the song,
perhaps the best exposure opportunity ever for the language.  I have
no desire to support and encourage them in this kind of behavior by
just blithely accepting anything they do.  Yeah, a little error or
screw-up here and there, within the context of a bona fide attempt
to use the language, that's fine, and I don't mind backfitting to
accommodate it.  But the utter drivel that is this song, frankly I
find it a slap in the face to all tlhIngan Hol enthousiasts, and
they can shove it right up their 'o'Du'.

                --Krankor




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