tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 27 22:25:11 1998
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Re: Glottal Stops
- From: "Klingon Ambassador" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Glottal Stops
- Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 22:24:59 PST
Stardate 9803.27
Greetings.
Although not necessarily supported in canon, I tend to think of glottal
stops in relation to syllables rather than whole words.
Glottal stops, if used, usually begin or end syllables within words.
Appearing in the middle of words, glottal stops don't appear in the
middle of syllables, because the uttering of a glottal stop halts or at
least interrupts the vocalization of syllables.
If viewed in terms of whole words, a double glottal stop seems a bit
excessive, leading one to the desire to merge both glottal stops into
one, as is done in common speech (if there is such a thing as common
speech of tlhIngan Hol); however, viewed in terms of syllables forming
words, to merge a double glottal stop into one robs one of the
syllables of its glottal stop.
If I were to say the word, {yupma''a'} "big festival, grand festival", I
would break the articulation down into three syllables: yup - ma' - 'a'
( {yupma'} "festival" + {-'a'} augmentative noun suffix )
If someone were to merge the double glottal stop, one of the last two
syllables in the example above would lose a glottal stop, altering the
vocalization of the word.
It should be noted that the transcription system devised by Dr. Okrand,
which appears in the Klingon Dictionary, is based on the spoken language
of Klingons, I repeat, "the _spoken_ language." So the question of
double glottal stops should be viewed as consequtive markers
representing a sound we call a glottal stop. Also, the glottal stop is
a letter in tlhIngan Hol, which we represent with an apostrophe ( ' ),
and not a punctuation mark as in Federation Standard (English).
Personally, I don't mind the merging of glottal stops in speech; but I
am opposed to incorporating this into print, because I wouldn't want to
go to the dictionary to look up an unfamiliar word that has had the
double glottal stops and/or double consonants surgically removed.
Klingon Ambassador,
Dawut (David)
[email protected]
[email protected]
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