tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 09 03:50:02 2001

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Klingon Mode of Tengwar

I've completed a Klingon mode for the Tengwar that actually makes some
sense.  In fact, it makes a lot more sense than that program I linked you to
earlier.

I'm going to discuss it here.  You will require the following sources to
fully understand what I'm talking about: RETURN OF THE KING; HolQeD Vol. 1,
No. 1.  Since I have no pictures in e-mail, you'll have to draw the tengwar
for yourself.  The chart in RK is required.

As explained in Appendix E of LORD OF THE RINGS, the Tengwar are divided
into four series and six grades, with additional letters added.  Series I
was used for the "dental" series in all modes, and Series II the labial
series.  The application of series III and IV varied.  Grades 1 and 2 were
used for unvoiced and voiced stops, Grades 3 and 4 for unvoiced and voiced
"spirants" (fricatives and affricates), and Grades 5 and 6 varied, usually
for nasals and weak or semi-vocalic consonants.

Because Klingon has such a varied set of articulation points and manners, I
wondered how to assign the series and grades for Klingon.  I went back to
HolQeD Vol. 1, No. 1, to Allan C. Wechsler's excellent, though very
technical, article "First Steps Towards a Phonological Theory of Klingon."
Wechsler examines the consonant system of Klingon and determines that it has
7 or 8 distinctive points of articulation, as well as 11 different manners
of speaking at these points, but that most of the possible consonants
created by this matrix aren't used in Klingon.  He then postulates a
consolidated matrix that might apply to Klingons, given "relatively shallow
production rules" (e.g., /p/ and /b/ are bilabials and /v/ is a
labial-dental, but he's going to say that they can all be called "labials"
and that they are produced in a similar enough fashion as to be classified
together).

This idea reduces the table into one with only four articulation points.
That's the number of tengwar series!  We will accept Wechsler's hypothesis
as correct for the purpose of creating this mode.

We still have too many manners, though.  There are unvoiced and voiced
stops, unvoiced and voiced fricatives, unvoiced and voiced affricates,
nasals, glides, a trill, a lateral, and a lateral affricate.  We're going to
need those extra tengwar letters.

As per the matrix, Series I will be the "Apical" series, series II will be
the "Labial" series, series III will be the "Dorsal" series, and series IV
will be the "Glottal" series.  Grade 1 will be the unvoiced stops, and Grade
2 the voiced stops.  Grades 3 and 4 are problematical; I'll return to them
in a moment.  Grades 5 and 6 will be as the common Elvish modes: 5 is for
nasals, 6 is for "weak" consonants.

When Tolkien used the term "spirant," he meant both fricatives and
affricates.  But we have, for example, two unvoiced dorsal spirants in
Klingon, one a fricative (H) and one an affricate (Q).  They can't both use
the same letter!  Fairly arbitrarily, I'm going to assign /Q/ to letter #29:
Quenya used #11 for the same sound as Klingon /H/, so I'll keep #11 as /H/.
#33 was an alternate for #11 (though I'd hardly call it a "weaker" sound),
so /Q/ will go on #33.  Likewise, we have a conflict with /S/ and /ch/ (both
of which want to go on #9).  Since #29 typically represented "s," I'll again
arbitrarily put Klingon /S/ there, leaving /ch/ to go on #9.  That leaves
the rest of the "spirants" free and clear.

So, let's map those sounds!  (The letter "x" will be used to indicate
"letter not used."  There are a lot of Feanorean letters that won't be used
in this mode.)

Grade 1: 1=t, 2=p, 3=q, 4='
Grade 2: 5=D, 6=b, 7=x, 8=x
Grade 3: 9=ch, 10=x, 11=H, 12=x
Grade 4: 13=j, 14=v, 15=gh, 16=x
Grade 5: 17=n, 18=m, 19=ng, 20=x

Grade 6, Series 1 is tricky.  The Elves used a "weak r" here, but Klingon
doesn't have this sound.  Besides, we've changed series I from a "dental"
series to an "apical" series.  The only "semi-vocalic" apical consonants we
have to choose from are /l/ and /y/.  But in the Tengwar, #27 is said to
have been universally used for "l."  Therefore, #21 should be "y."

Grade 6: 21=y, 22=w, 23=x, 24=x

Additional Letters:

#25 was used by the Elves for a trilled "r."  That's where we'll put Klingon
/r/ (that's what it is).  We've already placed our lateral /l/ on #27, so
we'll again fairly arbitrarily place our related lateral affricate /tlh/ on
#28, which is a modified form of #27 anyway.  This gives us the following
used additional letters:

25=r
27=l
28=tlh
29=S
33=Q

Now for vowels.  This part is all pretty arbitrary, but easy.  We'll use the
tehtar, rather than full vowel letters, 'cause I like 'em.  Tolkien says
that in languages where most words end in a vowel, the tehtar would be
placed over the preceding consonant.  This is not Klingon.  In Klingon, most
words end in a consonant, like Sindarin.  However, the point of this
tendency is to put the tehtar over consonants instead of short carriers as
much as possible.  Klingon words NEVER begin with a vowel, so if we put the
tehtar over the preceding vowel, we'll never use the short carrier at all.
The other way, and you will have to use it for those few words that end in
vowels, like /HaSta/.  Like I said, fairly arbitrary, though it has a logic
of its own.  Besides, verb prefixes get a little less mixed up with the rest
of the word this way.

More arbitrary choices: /a/ will be represented by a circumflex-like
character.  Tolkien says this form was often used, and it looks pointier,
and thus more Klingon, to my eyes.  /i/ is represented by a single dot, and
/e/ by an acute accent.  For /o/ and /u/, which one takes the right-curl
symbol depends on which one is more common in the language -- I don't have
that information, so I'll mimic the Black Speech (hey, it's Klingon we're
talking about here!) and have /u/ take the right-curl.  /o/ gets the
left-curl.

And there it is!  SuStel's Klingon mode for Tengwar!  As logical a layout as
you can devise.

I have put up the complete chart of the Klingon mode at
http://members.aol.com/dtrimboli/klingontengwar.jpg  You can also see a few
examples at http://members.aol.com/dtrimboli/examples.jpg

Comments are welcome.  Praising me with great praise is preferred, but I'll
take criticism too.

SuStel
Stardate 1939.4

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