tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 07 03:21:17 1997
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Re: ' between vowels
- From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: ' between vowels
- Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 13:19:08 -0800
- Organization: Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science
- References: <[email protected]>
Donald E. Vick wrote:
> I have a reminder to give here. This is not a Klingon word we're
> talking about, it's a transliteration of a greek word.
Whatever its etymology, if someone wants it as a _nom de Klin_, if it is
written in the Klingon alphabet (pIqaD or romanisation, it matters not),
if it can be used in a Klingon sentence, it is a Klingon word, and the
rules of Klingon phonology apply.
> Also, it's a name, which even in Klingon do not follow the normal rules.
No? Cite a Klingon name which starts with a vowel with no preceding
glottal stop.
> The pronunciation (determined by sitting and saying it out loud for
> about 15 minutes) is <ta - DI' - 'oS>.[...]
> taDI'oS vIq, law'wI'pu'vaD Holtej jIH
'Fraid not. If it is written with a single {'}, there's no way it can
be pronounced with *two* glottal stops. This ain't English, where you
write _Constantinople_ and pronounce it [,Ist&m'bu:l]. Klingon uses a
phonetic orthography.
Alan Anderson wrote:
[re the Maximal Onset Principle]
> Thus the common Terran MISpronunciation of {Qapla'} as "kuh-PLAH". :-(
Yes, that's a case in point: In English a syllable can begin with /pl/
(witness the fact that words can), so /pl/ is the maximal onset assigned
to the second syllable; in Klingon that is not the case, so the maximal
onset is {l}, and the {p} is left to form the coda of the first syllable.
If the MOP didn't apply to Klingon, there might be a case for *{Qa-pla'}
(which you refer to as a mispronunciation) or *{Qapl-a'}.
> I prefer to believe that Klingon phonology violates the MOP;
Yet there is not a single reason in the world to think that it does.
All available evidence points towards the fact that every Klingon
syllable, word-initial or not, starts with 1 (one) consonant, and
that's all there's to it.
> it makes the language sound much more alien.
qechvetlh vIyajbe'. DaH yIQIj.
--'Iwvan
--
"mIw'e' lo'lu'ta'bogh batlh tlhIHvaD vIlIH [...]
poH vIghajchugh neH jIH, yab boghajchugh neH tlhIH"
(Lewis Carroll, "_Snark_ wamlu'")
Ivan A Derzhanski <[email protected], [email protected]>
Dept for Math Lx, Inst for Maths & CompSci, Bulg Acad of Sciences
Home: cplx Iztok bl 91, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria