tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 30 11:46:32 1998

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Re: How big is the vocabulary?

According to Alan Anderson:
... 
> Nearly all the vocabulary gleaned from the tapes, Skybox cards, and 
> TKW made it into KGT.  Based on the specifics of certain words, I'm 
> pretty sure we can thank charghwI' for some of that.
> 
> -- ghunchu'wI'

For those interested in the history of this who weren't around
to know this, I was one of the early lexicographers (word
gatherers) and put together what was at the time likely one of
the most organized word lists. While several people had been
collecting Klingon vocabulary from its various sources, I was
the first one citing the source for each word so we could track
down its validity, avoiding the {'I'} phenominon [another
story].

Anyway, at qep'a' wejDIch, Okrand made a surprise visit and I
gave him a copy of my Annotated Klingon Dictionary. Someone had
asked him if he had one single, complete word list and he said
that he didn't. Instead, by his description, he had words
written on pieces of paper scattered around.

So, I had the pleasure of giving Okrand what was at the time
his most complete alphabetic listing of his own words.
Unfortunately, it had a couple mistakes in it. A couple words
had the wrong definitions. They had the definitions that
belonged to adjacent words.

These words are now in KGT with the "wrong" definition I had
listed. I can only imagine that Okrand recognized the errors,
grinned and put them in KGT specifically because life would be
just a little bit sillier if he did it than if he didn't. It
both reflects his secretive sense of humor (seen in words like
{maHpIn} and {duqpIn}), and his appreciation for the accidental
evolution of his language (like when a director changes the
subtitle on a sentence and Okrand has to make those sounds have
that meaning).

At qep'a' loSDIch, he explained that KGT would have a new word
list that would append, but not replace TKD. He also assured me
that it did NOT have all the words in it on the New Words list
available at KLI, as if he thought it was important to me that
the New Words list had a reason to exist.

I know that the New Words list at KLI is in need of maintenance
I likely will not muster any time soon. I would appreciate the
help of others at this point.

I have some scattered notes about changes I already want to
make and my PC ate the latest version of the file I was
preparing. If you know of errors or omissions in that word
list, please Email me about it. It would save me a lot of time
and give the group a better word list months sooner than it
will if we have to wait for me to sweep through another time to
discover the errors and ommissions.

In particular, I know it is missing all the words in KGT which
are in the text, but not in KGT's word list. Please include
citations for the source of each of the words you think should
be in the New Words List including the publication and the page
number (if applicable).

charghwI'

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