tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 23 12:44:58 2001
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RE: Gutturals (was Re: qung "pun")
- From: "Trimboli, David" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: Gutturals (was Re: qung "pun")
- Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 12:43:23 -0400
From: Andrew [mailto:[email protected]]
> Phonotactic constraints? There's a funny thing about Klingon -- even tho
the
> sounds are hard to pronounce, it is still quite accommodating to English
> phonotactics. This is a possible "mistake" on MO's part, due to English
> bias. German natives (and many other) would actually have phonotactic
> difficulties with Klingon. (What if MO had been German? How would Klingon
> have sounded to him then?)
I don't think it was a mistake, so much as a design necessity. He carefully
devised Klingon to be correctly pronouncable by English-native actors
(wearing prosthetic teeth).
> I have always wondered whether Klingon has allophones or phonological
> transformations of any kind. It would be fascinating to talk to d'Armond's
> son to hear if he's developed any in his Klingon. I could have sworn I
heard
> him fronting the H in nuqneH on the wav file, but that could have been an
> overzealous hallucination.
At last report, Alec hasn't spoken Klingon in years. d'Armond can surely
elaborate.
> What about "nIDtaH" or "nuQHom" where you have to actually
> change articulation point in mid-stream? NO natural language asks you to
do
> that. One would expect a transformation to "nIdtaH" or "nIDTaH", and
> "nuQXom" or "nuKHom", respectively. But then again, Klingon physiology is
> different, eh?
A few years back, we had a participant on the list named /SanDar/. She
reveled in the relative unpronounceability of her name. My own requires
changing positions, but it's a lot easier to pronounce S-t than it is to
pronounce n-D: you can slide out of an /S/ without losing the sound.
SuStel
Stardate 1559.7