tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 22 12:19:40 1996

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RE: KLBC: Double glottal stop?

December 22, 1996 1:48 AM, jatlh vay' 'ach pongDaj vISovbe':

> I was wondering, how do I pronounce <''> (double glottal stop)?
> 
> - I mean sometimes it really makes a difference (as in the sentences belo=
> w) so there must be a way to pronounce it other than just pronouncing a s=
> ingle one. Or is there?
> 
> {nupaw'a' Duj}  Has the ship arrived?
> {nupaw''a' Duj}  Has the ship collided?
> 
> (I hope these sentences are good Klingon.)

Don't use {nu-} on these verbs; you cannot say "Has the ship arrived us?"

{paw'a' Duj} "Did the ship arrive?"
{paw''a' Duj} "Did the ship collide?"

Note that I haven't used the perfective form which your English suggests.  
"*Has* it arrived" would tell me to probably use {-pu'}, but for the purpose 
of examining doubled glottal stops, I'll use the sentences I wrote above.

Yes, I pronounced the difference.  The doubled glottal stop tends to be a 
little longer.  With the first, if you want, you can say {pawwww- . . . -'a'}, 
whereas the second cannot hold out the {w} like this.  Say these:

{pawww- . . . -'a'}
{paw'- . . . -'a'}

I, for one, try to pronounced doubled glottal stops distinctly, for exactly 
the reason you imply above.  If I didn't, then people wouldn't know if I'd 
said "Did the ship arrive?" or "Did the ship collide?"  There are other times 
when this could be important.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96976.9

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