tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 07 01:55:10 1994
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: The Big Word List
Again, I must prefix that I won't make any comments that are included in
the HolQeD article I have underway. I'll just make comments on what is
not right with your analysis, Paul.
On Tue, 6 Sep 1994, ...Paul wrote:
> My math was off anyway. It's 2,541. :)
It is still off. There are more monosyllables.
> As for "abnormal vowels" and "ending markers"... Those were just terms I
> used to represent the trends in the language. You will never find in the
> TKD a word that has a "consonant" after a vowel+w or vowel+y combination.
> The only one you'll find is an apostrophe stress marker. Because of this,
> I simply said that the vowel+w and vowel+y combinations were special, also
[sic]
It is not a good idea to invent "terms.. to represent the trends in the
language" any more than creating new Klingon words. Of course, the Vw
and Vy combinations are special since the vowels are affected somewhat.
Although, TKD is more trying to give Terrans a comparison. It does not
state that >ay< equates with the sound of English "eye". It is merely a
guide. I leave it to experts in the area of the production of sounds to
explain better.
> There may still be some "bugs" in my grammar design; I skethed it up one
> morning. The more I think about it, the more problems I end up with.
> Oh, the other thing I wanted to say was that if you consider y and w to be
> standard consonants when appearing after a vowel, you have the problem that
> no other consonant could possibly have anything else AFTER it. In this
> sense, the only two-consonant combinations possible are w', y', and rgh,
> but rgh is just as easy to consider a special-case consonant. Also of note
> is that there is no ow or uw in Klingon (stress or not), which kinda breaks
> the combos from the normal mold.
I'm not at all sure what you are talking about by "grammar design". How
does this relate to the number of monosyllables?
As far as the possibilities of CVw', CVy' and CVrgh, various articles in
HolQeD have described possible origins of these. Inasmuch as I might
groan at your description of /'/ as an ending marker, I groan even louder
at your terminology of /'/ as a stress marker. It's a consonant, a
consonant, a consonant....
<[email protected]> >tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?< "Pardon me, but if I must
David E G Sturm, Laboratory Manager operate in a vacuum, can
Wake Forest University Department of Physics I at least have a little
Box 7261 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem NC 27109 ether to calm my nerves?"