tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 03 05:22:48 1994

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Re: Scrabble Letter Frequencies

According to Susan Farmer:
> 
> >The argument is that {rgh} is the only consonant cluster that
> >occurs within a single syllable in Klingon. You get other
> >consonant pairs BETWEEN syllables all the time, but except for
> >{rgh}, {y'} and {w'}, you don't get the potential for THREE
> >consonants TOGETHER. Note that any argument that applies to
> >{rgh} should also be applied to {w'} and {y'}.
> >
> >Besides the oddity that he picked out one of these and not the
> >other two, it seems to be a bad idea altogether.
> >
> >charghwI'
> >
> >
> 
> Let me guess.  From this, can I infer (at least until we learn otherwise)
> that {rgh} always occurs together (ie no {r} unless followed by {gh})
> and the same with {w'} and {y'}?  (But what about {-wI'}?)
> 
> Susan

NO! That is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. What I mean is that all
Klingon syllables consist of either one consonant followed by
one vowel, or one consonant followed by a vowel and another
consonant. C-V or C-V-C. This is true all the time UNLESS the
last consonant is an "r", a "y", or a "w". Often an "r", a "y"
or a "w" might still end the syllable just like any other
consonant.

The point is that SOMETIMES an "r" which ends a syllable will
also be followed by "gh", and the resulting four Klingon
characters will still be considered one syllable. An example is
"chargh". That's one syllable. The "ch" is one character, the
"a" is one character, the "r" is one character and the "gh" is
one character. Four characters, one syllable. Follow me so far?

The same is true if the last consonant of the syllable is a "w"
or a "y". Either of these MAY be followed by a glottal stop, or
maybe not. The point is that if they ARE followed by a glottal
stop, the resulting syllable has FOUR characters in it instead
of the usual two or three.

Does this make more sense?

charghwI'

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