tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 05 13:59:32 2002

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RE: HIja' and HISlaH



Lee Herndon wrote:
> > That would be consistent with the novelization, which states that Valkris
> > is a member of a subculture or race known as the Rumaiy (whereas the
> > dominant Klingon culture is Kumburanya).  Of course, the novelization
> > also suggests that tlhingan Hol is a lot more complex than Okrand
> > produced, with its talk of multiple "substrata", ...

DloraH:
>The First episode of Enterprise also says that klingon is a: (from the
>closed-captions) "An empire of warriors with 80 poly-guttural dialects
>constructed on an adaptive syntax."  Whatever that's supposed to mean.
>
>In TKD MO does admit,
>
>    The grammatical sketch is intended to be an outline of
>    Klingon grammar, not a complete description. Nevertheless,
>    it should allow the reader to put Klingon words together in an
>    acceptable manner.

What probably happened is that Vonda McIntyre's ST3 novelization may 
reflect an earlier version of Harve Bennett's screenplay, one which did not 
contain Marc Okrand's lines.

Here are parts of Valkris' scene with Kruge.  The subtitles in the finished 
movie are in (parentheses), and the corresponding lines in McIntyre's 
novelization are in {curly brackets}:

Kruge:   So'wI' yIchu'Ha'
           (Disengage cloaking device!)
           {The voice spoke a few words which only Valkris recognized,
            for they were in a Klingon language.}

Valkris: jabbI'ID pItlh. Qu'vaD lI' net tu'bej
           (Transmission completed. You will find it useful.)
           {"Transmission completed, Commander. You will find it essential
           to your mission."}
Kruge:   vaj Daleghpu'
           (Then you have seen it?)
           {"Then you have seen the transmission?" Kruge said, implying
            regret and inevitability.}
Valkris: HISlaH, jawwI'
           (I have, my lord.)
           {"I have, my lord," Valkris replied, granting permission in
            the second stratum and offering forgiveness as the third.}
Kruge:   Do'Ha'
           (Unfortunate.)
           {"That is unfortunate," Kruge said.}
Valkris: jIyaj
           (Understood.)
           {"I understand," Valkris said. She made all three strata the
            same, for she wanted him to know that she understood what she
            was doing and why, that she understood what he was doing and
            why, and that she understood that he would make certain the
            promises made to her would be kept.}
Kruge:   chuyDaH
           (Thrusters.)
           {"Thrusters," Kruge said, in the form of their language used
            by commanders to subordinates.}
Valkris: Qapla' jawwI' bangwI' je
           (Success my lord and my love.)
           {She spoke again, in formal tongue, to Kruge. "Success,
            Commander. And my love." She did love him, indeed, as the
            instrument of her bloodline's redemption.}
Kruge:   batlh Daqawlu'taH
           (You will be remembered with honor.)
Kruge:   baH
           (Fire!)
           {Then he switched dialects again. Valkris knew he was speaking
            so she would be sure to hear his command: "Fire!"}

The script probably just said something like "[Speaking Klingon]".  This 
would explain her odd interpretation of Klingon with its various "strata" 
-- she was making it up as she went, because Okrand hadn't finished 
creating tlhIngan Hol yet.  McIntyre couldn't wait for Okrand, because she 
had to submit the finished manuscript to the publisher so that they, in 
turn, could have the novelization out to coincide with the theatrical 
release of the movie.  (Movie and episode novelizations are often 
considered to be nothing more than marketing tools by the producers, useful 
in whipping up interest so as to increase ticket sales.)

Another indication of her using a preliminary script is that she never 
calls Kruge's ship a Bird of Prey, only a scout ship IIRC.  For that 
matter, I don't think that she even describes it either because the prop 
department hadn't finished the model and she didn't know exactly what it 
was going to look like.



-- 
Voragh                            "All the meaning is in the context."
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons           (Ilya Kabakov, Russian artist)



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