tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Mar 11 12:41:17 1999
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Re: Klingon Phonetics
Johnny B. schrieb:
> 1. Does assimiliation ever occur in Klingon? For example,
> Would "vIchenmoH" not be realized as "vIchemmoH" or "vIchennoH" in fast
I have never "spoken" Klingon yet, but I'm sure it might happen, and
context will make clear it is {chenmoH}. I personaly try to articulate
very clearly, so I say {chen-moH} but sometimes it can happen that I say
{jSaHbe'} (with the "eye" missing).
> In English, a construction like "in + balance" would be realized as
> "imbalance" because of assimilation.
In Klingon it is *very* important to distinguish between the sounds!
just look at qagh/qaH/Qagh/QaH.
> 2. Klingon has a restriction that only one consonent can occur in the
words are made of syllables of the form CVC with the exception of CVrgh
and CVw' and CVy' (C=consonant and V=vowel).
> construction ["ghargh" (worm) and many others]. Why is it then that when
> Klingson borrowed "Picard" from English, it became "pIcarD"?
It became pIqarD. Because, as you say, the borrowed it. That's the
same thing like on earth, when names from other cultures come, they are
often changed a bit. I know someone "Helena" from russia. There
apparently is no H in russian, so her name is actually "Lena".
Now to *pIqarD. the exception for the rule is that it's a name. Names
don't obey to rules. Look at the names in Hamlet. Others I've seen are
*qerq (Kirk), *qorD (Korrd), *be'elana (B'Elanna), *'aleqSanDer
(Alexander), *ghIrIlqa' (Grilka), *tlha'a (Klaa), etc.
Picard is in french pronounced {pI'qar} (you know the letters, I
suppose?), but in english they say {pIqarD} so that's what the klingons
say too.
I think that's it.
Quvar muHwI'
(PS: look at *my* name: it don't follow the rules either)