tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Apr 12 18:35:29 1997

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RE: pronunciation of tlh-H

jatlh qoror:

> 	qoror here.  I just got "Power Klingon" and have been going over it.  The
> main thing I noticed was that the way it's pronounced.  It seems a lot 
fruitier
> than the way I speak it, which seems flat in comparison.  A sidebar is that 
the
> "tlh" there sounds like just a "tl."   Mine is a lot meatier, with them 
really
> running together and my cheeks puffing out.  (I also don't have a microphone 
for
> my computer, although I'm considering one, so I can't go on the Talker just
> yet.)  Can someone tell me if tlhIngan Hol sounds the way it does in PK with
> you?

You think the PK {tlh} sounds like a run-together "t" and "l"?  I don't.  Get 
a microphone, and meet me on the Talker site!  On Thursday, I was helping 
Banzai pronounce {tlh}.  I suggested to him that while his tongue is in the 
position for a "t," that he whisper an "l."  Standard advice so far.  He was 
still having problems.  Then, I suggested that he try pronouncing it 
prolonged, so that he continued "hissing" (for lack of a better word), and 
suddenly he spoke every {tlh} beautifully!  Give that a try.  Remember, {tlh} 
is unvoiced; you won't be using your voice, only your mouth.

> 	By the way, a tidbit about pronunciation I found that might interest you.
> I quote from TKD 1.2: "tlh- This sound is like nothing in English, but it is
> rather like the last sound in "tetl," the Aztec word for "egg," if properly
> pronounced."  (I think that's what it says, at least.)  I discovered from
> another person involved in languages that that's a misnomer.  Aztec actually
> *has* that sound!

How is that a misnomer?  Okrand said that the sound was like nothing in 
*English*, but resembled a sound in *Aztec*.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97281.2

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