tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 20 23:08:23 2002
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Re: question's
From: "DloraH" <[email protected]>
> > I know that ' is a stop in sound sort of like smalll tsu is in
> > Japanese. How does that work when the ' is at the beginning
> > of a word, especially if the sentance starts with that word?
>
> When you say a word in english starting with a vowel, you are including a
'.
Indeed. All English words that seem to begin with vowels actually begin
with glottal stops. Some languages actually have words that begin with
glottal-vowel and others words that actually begin with vowels.
Consider the archetypical glottal stop illustration: "uh-oh." I'll use
apostrophes in the English word to point out the glottal stops:
'uh-'oh
This word has TWO glottal stops in it. Without any glottal stops at all the
word will sound a little like "uuhoh." You sort of glide into the vowel
instead of stomping into it.
I was once demonstrating this to some coworkers using the word "apple." I'd
say 'apple, then I'd say apple. They insisted it was the same word, but I
was making the difference very plain, if you know how to hear initial
glottal stops. Then the guys in the Mac tech office came over and demanded
to know what I wanted.
EVERY Klingon word begins with a consontant (/'/ is a consonant). To an
English speaker, the Klingon word /'IghvaH/ sounds like it begins with a
vowel. Native Klingon speakers would probably have the same trouble
distinguishing /'IghvaH/ and */IghvaH/ that English speakers do with 'apple
and apple.
SuStel
Stardate 2218.1