tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 17 08:53:37 1995

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Re: tlh-H phonology question



>Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 07:26:55 -0400
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: Marc Ruehlaender <[email protected]>

>> (2) Okrand called the combinations {Vw} and {Vy} diphthongs because he
>> was writing for hoi English-speaking polloi, whom he expected to have
>> a hard time pronouncing those combinations properly (giving both the
>> vowel and the consonant the sound they normally have in Klingon).
>> He was not motivated by the reality of Klingon phonology.

He never even called them diphthongs at all.

>hmmm... maybe if we could ascertain that -oy inserts a '
>at the end of open syllables and it doesn't insert ' after
>"Diphtongs"... (is it ghewoy or ghew'oy? )

I think there is no evidence at all for "*ghew'oy".  Nowhere does Okrand
even intimate that a word-final "w" is considered at all vocalic.  Near as
I can tell, "w" is always phonemically a consonant.  Also note that Okrand
himself says it's not quite sure whether this "'" before "-oy" actually
happens even in true vowel-final nouns.  


~mark


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