tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 19 08:45:25 1996

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

>Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 15:13:44 -0700
>From: Consulat General de Pologne <#[email protected]>

>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.

Be careful.  Phonology is language-dependent.  ' is a special non-phonemic
sound in English, and perhaps a slightly special phonemic sound in Klingon,
but it's a regular consonant in Hawai'ian.  It's a way to break up sound
like any other.  /k/ is an interuption of air at the velum, /p/ is an
interruption at the lips, and /?/ is an interruption at the glottis.  The
only difference is how each language views them.

>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.

This is like saying that /p/ is really two letters because it's usually
pronounced unreleased at the ends of words, while it's always released
strongly initially.  So far we've doubled the number of stops we have in
the language.  Not bad.  I'll still write them with the same letter,
though, and consider the variations environmentally triggered.

>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).

I thought the rough and smooth breathings in Greek were unvoiced and voiced
aspirations (respectively); not glottal *stops* but glottal *glides*.
Nick, can you set us straight?

>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?

A visarga is also an aspiration, not a stop.  Which other consonant?  All
of the stops *would*, if you were careful to pronounce them released and
aspirated fully in final position.  In order to release a stop you need to
have some sort of... something after them.  Perhaps not an echo of the same
vowel, but SOME semi-vocalic sound (maybe unvoiced, especially if the
consonant is unvoiced).  All this tells me is that Klingons are a little
more careful to release their glottal stops in final position than perhaps
they are of other stops.  Or maybe it's to remind me that this is how you
have to release a glottal stop at the end if you want to, since as an
English speaker a member of Okrand's audience might not be expected to know
how to handle final ''s, but final p's are familiar.

>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".

If you listen to the tapes you'll hear that Okrand is far from consistent
in vowel-length in general.  It would seem to be a non-phonemic distinction
in Klingon.

>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?

This is meaningful, but not all that much.

>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?

I have not been able to hear *any* evidence of gemination being preserved
in pronunciation with *any* geminate consonant.  It would seem that in
Klingon, like in Welsh and English, doubled consonants are not lengthened.
The distinction remains in writing, but I have not heard it in spoken
examples.

>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}.

I hear a vowel.  And if I didn't, I'd ascribe that to laziness on the
speaker's (Okrand's) part; an environmental sloppiness brought on by the
stressed syllable immediately following.

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

qogh is the external ear; teS is the internal organ of hearing.  From a
HolQeD.

>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?

I'd consider it an idiolectical variation.  I think much too much is being
made of this.  I know of no language which is pronounced precisely the same
by all its speakers, except for those which have only one speaker (and
probably not even they are perfectly consistent).

~mark

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