tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 18 04:38:56 2001
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Pronunciation [was RE: K'Zhen Zu-Merz]
Hi Alan
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Anderson [mailto:[email protected]]
>
> ja' qe'San:
> >But I thought <'> could only follow a vowel and TKD gives the <aw>
> >construction a vowel sound.
>
> TKD labels both {w} and {y} as consonants.
I agree that {w} and {y} are cononants but that isn't what I said.
> The section about pronunciationwhen these two consonants follow
> a vowel is there as a warning to people
> who are used to the way English works. The letters "w" and
> "y" can act as
> vowels in English to create dipthongs which modify the sound of the
> preceding vowel, but they do *not* create dipthongs in
> Klingon.
BUT YES! THEY DO. TKD defines them as diphthongs (explained further below).
Consonants/Vowels/Diphthongs are verbal concepts and are defined by the way
the sound is produced not by the way it is written.
See link below for IPA vowel diagram as applied to Klingon Phonetics:
http://www.btinternet.com/~qeSan/Dictionaries/Pronunciation.htm#Vowel%20Phon
etics
> In each
> case explained on pages 16 and 17 of TKD, the vowel sound
> does not change
> when the consonant {w} or {y} follows it.
Pages 16-17 states the vowel sound DOES CHANGE.
>
> The simplest usable theory of Klingon phonology does not include the
> concept of dipthongs,
YES IT DOES, It may not include the word but on Pages 16 -17 it clearly
embraces the concept and states that tlhIngan Hol has Diphthongs. As said
it may not mention that word but it does supply the definition, "Klingon ew
resembles nothing in English, but can be approximated by running Klingon e
and u together." A DIPHTHONG IS IT NOT?! It also shows that all the other
vowels followed by w or I are dipthongs in a less expicit way eg "aw rhymes
with ow as in cow" Yes English may like the Klingon be using w but it
doesn't matter what is written Diphthongs are about sound and where/how the
sound is produced within the mouth. Just because a sound is not
characterised as a diphthong doesn't mean it isn't one.
To take it step further MO states (in every case except aw) that the
pronunciation of a vowel followed by w that the w is sounded as the Klinghon
<u>:
"ew ..... can be approximated by running Klingon e and u together"
"Likewise, Klingon IW is I and u run together"
By starting the latter "likewise" MO implies a rule that this would also
apply to aw as in it's sound can be approximated by running the Klingon a
and u run together.
>but merely treats the three cases
> {-w'}, {-y'}, and
> {-rgh} as common exceptions to the pattern of not having
> abutted consonants
> within a syllable.
As explained above they may be exceptions to the written pattern but the
vocal pattern will still be CVC albeit CDC due to the diphthong nature of
the <V-w> and <V-y> cases.
> -- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh
qe'San