tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 24 07:33:42 2000

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Re: Navajo code-talkers

> I seem to recall that Okrand studied Native American languages.  Does
> anyone have any info on whether he specifically based parts of Klingon
> on Navajo, and which parts?

I'm not family with Okrand's history (is there a write-up 
somewhere?) but I'm not surprised: most linguists in the USA are 
exposed to one or another of the Native American languages 
(Elgin, too, incorporated aspects of Navajo and Hopi[Aztec-Tanoan 
family] in the Laadan language). 

I'm new to Klingon, but I have read the grammar etc. and am trying 
to learn the language. I have also studied some Navajo grammar, 
but have yet seen any instances of what most would consider 
borrowing specific grammatical structures from Navajo to Klingon.   

Tsalagi (Cherokee)[Hokan-Siouan family] and Inuit[Eskimo-Aleut 
family], two very different languages, have aspects such as those 
you listed from the book (inclusive subject-object & quality (long, 
flat, etc.) prefixes), which effectively result in words carrying the 
information of sentences in English. 

I've not read the _Navajo Cope Talkers_, but I suspect there are 
other additional reasons Navajo was chosen: the number of 
speakers willing/able to serve in the US military was high enough; 
Navajo (unlike Tsalagi or Inuit) uses a modified roman alphabet; 
and verb forms shift dramatically and (effectively) unpredictably, 
increasing the unbreakable nature of Navajo as a "code".    

I'm willing to talk with you more if you wish, but off the tlhIngan-Hol 
list.

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