tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 15 18:34:30 1996

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Re: pIqaDqoq (was: diphthongs)

>
>jatlh qrlIH:
>
>>  >The font available from the KLI is just a fan 
>>  >alphabet; IT IS NOT THE ACTUAL KLINGON WRITING SYSTEM!
>>  
>>  This appears to me to be somewhat muddy thinking.  How can you 
>>  distinguish
>>  the validity of a fan writing system from a fan language?
>
>Well, as far as the KLI goes, I believe that the official policy is that 
>anything done by Marc Okrand is canon tlhIngan Hol; anything else done is 
>theory and noncanonical.

I haven't seen a copy but I understand that the KLI puts
out a 'journal' (HolQeD?) which contains (so it is said) some new words
and rules that have been (discoverd? created? formulated?).  I find it
unlikely that all these were the product of Marc's admittedly fertile
mind.  Does that mean that all articles in this mag (and, equally, any
other pronouncements from KLI personnel &/or adherents are "theory and
non-canonoical"?

>>  Or is it your
>>  thesis that, since Marc Okrand was *PAID* to create the language for
>>  Paramount, that it's *NOT* a fan language, even though the bulk of the
>>  speakers/writers (I'm counting numbers here -- I'm a democrat) are fans? 
>
>I'm not saying that being a fan invalidates something created.  If that were 
>so, then we wouldn't be using Okrand's language at all; he rather likes the 
>original series of Star Trek.
>
>This is just the age-old question of what is canon.  Even I use the KLI pIqaD 
>font sometimes (I love showing off the tlhIngan Hol yejHaD mug I got at qep'a' 
>wejDIch), but I acknowledge that someone less than official created the 
>meanings of the letters.  Since Okrand created the language, I accept him as 
>the only official source, becuase otherwise no one would agree on who can 
>create new words, new constructions, or new ways to read pIqaD.

I will accept Marc as the only official source of the *SPOKEN* language,
including grammar and spelling.  But I'm not sure why that authority
should extend to the written side nor, if we agree that it doesn't, why
that should suddenly mean that there is no canon at all.  Surely, psat
practice counts for something!  Once upon a time, English was written in
Gothic characters but, except in aberrations such as "Ye Olde Englisshe
Tee Shoppe", they are no longer used.  My point being, even if there be
(somewhere) some writing system which you say is 'canon' or 'correct' or
whatever adjective you prefer, the current system some refer to as {pIqaD}
certainly has legitimacy if only because it is used by so many (second
only to the Romanized script we use in these posts). 


Qapla'

qrlIH veStaySortlhIH Sogh la'       Lt. Commander K'rlikh Vestai-Shor-Klikh
tlhIngan wo' Duj qIj leng ra'wI'    Commanding Officer, IKV Black Odyssey
Qanpu' pogh DuQ cha'DIch ra'wI'     Deputy C.O., Mailed Glove Squadron

a.k.a.

--
Denny Shortliffe

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