tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 18 15:07:56 1996

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Phonology once again (was: Re: qaSovlu' jineH)

ghunchu'wI' writes:

> > macheq writes:
> > >But that is also the case with many words on the CK and PK cassettes:
> > >especially "tera'ngan" which is pronounced completely without "e"
> > >as if "tra'ngan". So I have accepted that the short vowels may almost
> > >disappear in pronounciation when they are followed by a syllable with
> > >an *'* in the end.
> >
> > I don't hear a "tr" sound in Okrand's pronunciation of {tera'ngan} in CK.
> > The {e} does get very unstressed, but the {t} and {r} are quite distinct.
> > But what does the {'} at the end of the next syllable have to do with a
> > vowel's nearly disappearing?  {'} isn't any more special than {p} or {t}.
> > I'm more likely to accept that the dilution of the vowel sound is due to
> > its being at the end of a syllable with no closing consonant.
> >

You would like to believe it that {'} isn't any more special than {p} or {k}
but from the phonological point of view this assumption is but a myth.
Well, a letter {'} is a letter like {p} or {k}, but not the sound like
the other two.

First it is described in TKD as "a glottal stop". But in fact it appers
to have double function: one in the beginning of a syllable and another
in the end.

The first one is very easy to explain. It is exactly what is called
"hiatus". Maybe you understand something else by this, but that's what I
have learned about it - hiatus is a glottal stop.
It's the kind of rapid closing and opening of the vocal cords without
making them vibrate.
I could describe it also as a slight, voiceless cough sound.

Maybe in English you use it less strong than we do in Polish
(so when I pronounce English words that start with a vowell beginning
them with a strong {'-} - it might be considered a Polonism) but nevertheless
I can hear Anglophones pronouncing it. Not being a native speaker of English
I must rely on the authority of Marc Okrand:
<<The apostrophe indicates a sound which is
frequently uttered, but not written in English. It is a glottal stop,
the slight catch in the throat between the two syllables of "uh-oh" or
"unh-unh" meaning "no".>> TKD p. 16.

The ancient Greeks have distinguished two kinds of it, one (less heard)
being called (in Latin, :-) ): "spiritus lenis" and marked with a {'},
the other one maybe corresponding more closely to what we describe above
- called "spiritus asper" and marked with a {`} transliterated by the Romans
as {h}. It was exactly a kind of a glottal stop.

It was used not only at the beginning of a vowel-starting word, but
also on a beginning {r} (thence Latin {Rh}) and between two intervocalic
r's {er`ryptos}.
This "stop" stops vowel and semivowel (Greek {r} might be one of them}
pronounciation and disables a "smooth" passage from one vowel to another
- demands a break (hiatus).


The second function is described in TKD: <<When Klingon {'} comes at the
end of a word, the vowel preceding the {'} is often repeated in a very soft
whisper, as if an echo.>>
Well, this reminds exactly the Sanskrit sound called "visarga" [letting-out]
and written as {:} in devanagari script, transliterated as an {h} with a dot
below. It also cause an echo of the vowel.

Now tell me which other Klingon consonant has a similar effect on the
preceeding vowel?

In Conversational Klingon it is described differently as:
"abrupt cutting off the sound"
and you can hear contrasted syllables with and without an {-'}.

The {-'} has an evident effect on the length of the vowel. Which other
consonant has a similar effect? It is unimportant whether you pronounce
"maj" with a long {a} or with a short {a} (speaking of the
metrical length} even if it seems that they are pronounced longer - you can
hear them long when the words are pronounced alone by themselves, but in
sentences they become neutral-length.
With the exception of {I} which is described
as being able of having at least one more different way of pronounciation
"not yet known exactly under what circumstances" (TKD p. 16), the vowels
have for sure two pronounciations: one before a consonant or in an open
syllable (when it is neutral - long or short) and another before
the glottal stop {-'} - when it is "abruptly short".

It  {-'} also causes the syllable containing it to be stressed rather than
any other syllable not containg an {-'} in a word. (TKD p.17)

Is this not sufficient to consider {'} a special sound?

To analyse fully the ture nature of {'} you must take into consideration
how {''} is pronounced. Is it a germinated consonant, like say {ll}?
or is the function of the 1st {'} a bit different from theat of the second
{'}? Compare the pronounciation of {cha'a'} "big torpedoes" and
{cha''a'} "does he show?" or more precisely: how is the syllable-
beginning {'} pronounced after a vowel? You have certainly more experience
than I do, so am I right that hiatus in both cases is similar?

As concerns its influence of pronounciation of vowels in some other syllables:
I am absolutely positive there is no vowel heard between {t} and {r}
in {tera'ngan} on the cassette. After having read your comment I have
listened to the k7 three times. I can hear only {tr}.

QoyghachlIj bIHbejbe' QoyghachwIj'e'.
<I couldn't find a word for "ear">

Of course this is not English {tr}. First we have here a rolled {r}, like
in Polish (not flapped like in English). Second, the {t} seems to me
more dental than English alveolar {t}, so again it's more similar to
Polish than English (but here I may be wrong)
(Although what I hear seems to be contrary to TKD which says that {t}
is more similar to the English one. What exactly is :<the tongue touches
a position on the roof of the mouth farther forward than that for {D}>
(TKD p. 15)? Seems a description of an apico-aleolar or alveolar sound
rather that that of a dental one (as contrasted with cerebral-retroflex
{D} and {S}).

Finally, what I hear on the k7 is exactly what I hear or pronounce when
Polish "tramwaj" is spoken, rather than English "tram". No vowel between
{t} and {r}. and exactly the same slight "hesitation" of the tongue when
changing from a stop {t} to a rolled {r}.
If you argue that there is a slight pause between, I'd say
it is rather prononunced {t'r} than {ter} (see above the description of
{r`r} in Greek.

The syllable {te} contains a neutral-length, unstressed vowel.
The next syllable {ra'} contains an abruptly short, stressed vowel.
The first of the two tends to disapper. It might be either a special
way of pronouncing the word {tera'ngan}, not even necessarily {tera'},
or a more general tendency. Both seem plausible. Who knows? Maybe MO?

Let us take another example. In French in some words the short unstressed
{e} tends to disappear in daily speech before a syllable containing
a stressed vowel. "Petit" may be pronounced [peti] with a short [e]
{scheva}, or more often [pti]. Some people pronounce it in
between as [p'ti].

I can only see a parallel to my last example in {tera'ngan}.




macheq

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