tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 04 12:57:55 2002
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Re: HIja' and HISlaH
'oghwI' wrote:
>This is something I've been meaning to ask...
>What is the difference between HIja' and HISlaH?
>
>Is it just personal preference, or have I missed a source?
"{HIja'} and {HISlaH} seem to be used interchangeably." (TKD p.57)
The real life explanation is that {HISlaH} is a "Valkris-ism" from the
movie ST3:
Kruge: vaj Daleghpu'?
(Then you have seen it?)
Valkris: HISlaH, jawwI'.
(I have, my lord.)
Actress Kathy Shirriff is responsible for several variant forms in tlhIngan
Hol, either because she found tlhIngan Hol difficult to pronounce or
remember, or because a line she filmed in English was later dubbed into
Klingon, with the exact phrasing chosen to more or less match her lip
movements. You'll notice another Valkris-ism in the above scene:
{jaw}. Okrand comments on {joH} in KGT (p.198):
This title also has an alternate form, {jaw}, which is used from time to
time with no known difference in meaning or connotation, though {joH} is
heard far more frequently.
Consider them common variations.
Personally, I like to think that Valkris was not a native tlhIngan Hol
speaker -- i.e. she grew up speaking one of the other "dialects" known on
the Homeworld -- and therefore has a pronounced, though fairly common,
regional accent. (Sort of a a Klingon analog to Chekov or the Rozhenkos
who, though proficient in Federation Standard, clearly did not grow up
speaking it at home as attested by their accents.)
--
Voragh "All the meaning is in the context."
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons (Ilya Kabakov, Russian artist)