tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 25 15:03:36 2002
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Re: Klingonase vs. tlhIngan Hol
charghwI':
: You missed my point. Nobody has ever used "Ford's Language". Not even
: Ford has ever used Ford's language because Ford never had a language.
: He is a fiction writer, not a linguist. He made up words and defined them.
: Mostly, he made up nouns. He sprinkled them in with his English text, but
: he never developed a language. He doesn't know how and he's not
: particularly interested in learning how.
See the interview "John Ford on Klingonaase" in HolQeD 4.2 (June 1995).
: By contrast, Okrand is a linguist, excellently qualified to develop his own
: language and he has done just that. tlhIngan Hol is a language.
: Klinganaase is a myth; a minor tool for fiction writers. It is not a language
: and never has been, and likely never will be. If it ever DOES become a
: language, someone other than Ford is going to have to do it, since Ford
: has no reason to do it and no inclination to do it. He never intended to
: make up a language. He was just trying to add a little depth to his fictional
: characters.
Some pro and fan authors writing in Ford's TFR "universe" have expanded the
vocabulary somewhat, most notably Ann K. Schwader's series of Neysa and Karan
novels. Also, Lynda Carraher put out a "Writers' Guide To Klingonaase" which
adds some vocabulary as well as her attempt to create a minimal grammar based
on Ford's work (although she revised his spelling to add some "guttural"
phonemes she must have felt were lacking). If interested, I can provide some
examples.
However, even with these fannish additions and modifications, klingonaase is
still only a mere sketch of a language -- much like Diane Duane's version of
Rihanssu (Romulan) in her four pro-novels.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons