tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 04 07:42:06 1996
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Re: Glottal stop ['] question(s)
- From: Mark Mandel <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Glottal stop ['] question(s)
- Date: Wed, 04 Dec 1996 10:38:23 -0500
ghItlh charghwI':
>>>>>>>>>>>
On Tue, 3 Dec 1996 11:43:38 -0800 Oliver Pereira
<[email protected]> wrote:
> > In other words, in English, the word "attitude" would be spelled
> > in Klingon {'atItuD} because we ALWAYS start our open vowels
> > with a glottal stop, just like Klingons do, except Klingons have
> > a letter of the alphabet for it and English speakers don't.
>
> We ALWAYS do, do we? I don't.
So, is English your native language? As it has been explained to
be by linguists on this list, English does always, dependably,
regardless of degree of emphasis, consistently and exclusively
begin every single instance of a bare vowel which breaks silence
(not merely changing sound from a previous syllable) begin with
a glottal stop.
<<<<<<<<<<<
As one of the linguists on this list, although not a very active
contributor lately, I'm going to put in my spoke. *As a general
rule* English precedes phrase-initial vowels with a glottal stop,
but I wouldn't say "consistently and exclusively"; I think
there's some variability. charghwI' isn't to blame for teaching
what he's learned from people with a claim to authoritative status
[like me }}};-)\ ].
It's hard for English-speakers to hear or feel the initial glottal
stop because it isn't distinctive, and it isn't a consonant in
our normal vocabulary. A Klingon hearing an English word with an
initial vowel would indeed pronounce and write it with an initial
glottal stop even if the speaker didn't pronounce one, because
that's the closest possible combination in Klingon -- just as
English-speakers tend to hear and write Klingon <Q> as "kr" (or
"ks"/"x" at the end of a word), because that's the closest
equivalent in English. If you want an all-Terrestrial analogue,
look at the typical English pronunciation of the kh/ch (<H>) sound
in "Khrushchev", "Bach", and "Loch Lomond".
If, as charghwI' seems to suspect, Oliver Pereira is not a native
speaker of English, Oliver's retort "We ALWAYS do, do we? I don't"
is irrelevant, because the "we" refers to native speakers, and
charghwI''s good advice is not necessarily useful to him. If his
native language is Portuguese, as his last name suggests, I don't
think he is likely to have any glottal stops. And in any case, as I
said above, I don't think initial glottal stop is absolutely
universal even in natives.
marqem, tlhIngan veQbeq la'Hom -- Heghbej ghIHmoHwI'pu'!
Subcmdr. Markemm, Klingon Sanitation Corps -- Death to Litterbugs!
** Mark A. Mandel : [email protected] **
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
http://www.dragonsys.com/klingon/klingon2.html