tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 27 12:52:50 1994

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Re: Pronunciation (Was: Re: KLBC: jItagh)

>From: KLI Round Table Acct <[email protected]>
>Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 13:27:51 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject: Re: Pronunciation (Was: Re: KLBC:  jItagh)
>
>> I've come to the conclusion that "q" is almost exactly like a "k" in English,
>> and "Q" is a "k" with the German "ch" after it, and then "H" is simply the
>> German "ch" without any hard k at all...  But I have a lot of trouble
>> getting my "Q"s to sound much different than my "H"s...  :(
>> 
>> ...Paul
>
>I don't believe this is a warranted conclusion to reach. Okrand tells us 
>that the Klingon "q" is rather like the English "k" in "kumquat" only not 
>quite.  Not all that helpful.  Though he does go on to describe tongue 
>placement.  I believe his example is there to let us know that the "k" is 
>what a linguist would call a "stop" or a "plosive" sound, which describes 
>the manner in which the phoneme is produced. The details on placement of 
>the tongue round out the description.  In fact, the really telling thing 
>here is the placement which Okrand describes as being considerably 
>further back in the mouth than is typical for the English "k" sound (or 
>the Klingon "gh" or "H" for that matter).  
>
>When Okrand compares "Q" to "H" and "q" he describes the "Q" as being 
>raspy and strongly articulated.  From this description (and his examples 
>on the tapes) I have taken him to mean that the "Q" has the same manner 
>as the "H," which is to say it is a "fricative" (not a "stop" or 
>"plosive" like the "q") but that it is made in the same place as the "q" 
>which makes sense given the delightful choking sound it produces.
>
>Comments?
>
>Lawrence

We could just chalk it up to dialect...  :)  However, I do disagree with
your reading on "Q".  Especially given the ever-present example of 
Qapla', I think it definitely has an impact signature, unlike "H", which
is a incremental buildup, with no impact spike. 

Example:  Try pronouncing Qapla', and then Hapla' (don't care if it's not
a word, just an example in pronounciation).  If "Q" goes by your definition,
it would be VERY difficult to tell the difference.  IMHO, the "H" takes on
more of a gutteral hiss.  (I think I do the "H" really well, since I had
three years of practice in high school German class pronouncing "ich" and
all sorts of other "ch" words.  Unfortunately, I can only get a good 
gutteral "Q" out after eating a few Snickers bars, when my mouth and
throat are coated with chocolate...  But if I eat too many, I won't be
a fit Klingon...  ;)

...Paul

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