tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jul 12 18:49:11 2003

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Is the language too bound for its own good? (was Re: Klingon - Terminology Databases (IMHO))

I 100% agree about making Klingon more "open."  It does feel like our hands are tied behind our back and that we have no control over the language.  To me, this is ridiculous.  We speak and write and dedicate so much of our lives to this artificial language...why do we have no authority?  Okrand, to me, is a blessing!  He really is...I think he is not only a genius (especially with making all the little intricacies of tlhIngan Hol) but a wonderful human being as well.  The thing is, having our knowledge only come from "Maltz," who readily speaks and gives us information, is Hogwash!  We have far too many words that are not present in Klingon...words that we sometimes desperately need...and too much guessing involved.  In my humble opinion, the language cannot expand and grow and prosper and exist in its fullest potential if it is not allowed to.  One time I was sitting down with my Klingon House in our monthly meeting and I had brought up tlhIngan Hol...I was disgusted that no one
 knew anything about the language.  "How can a Klingon House no nothing about tlhIngan Hol?" I asked them...and one of the members said to me, "Because the language is too impractical.  You can't use it in daily life, especially with having little to no words about daily items and too much confusion about pronunciation and grammar.  We don't learn it because it's not allowed to be anything more than a fake language."  That has stuck with me for a very long time, and I have set out to prove them wrong!  One day, I want my children understanding and speaking Klingon as though it were Hebrew in a Jewish family.  One day, I want to have all the vocabulary and grammar rules down so cold that I can speak with ease.  This can't happen when it seems that the most common of sentences have to be avoided or assumed because we don't have enough information about it.  The idea about us "humans" just not knowing enough about Klingon culture and whatever else is getting quite old.  I regard myself
 as a Klingon anyway!  So why is it that us "Klingon's" still don't know enough about the language.  If nothing else, the Federation and the Empire have been allies for some time now...we should be unbound and allowed to make this language as big as I know it can be.  This language, if everyone knew how worth-wild and practical it really is, can be spoken around the world with greater numbers than what it is now.  And of course, the question now is...if Okrand isn't the only ruling body who makes things "cannon" (though I think that has to stop also...this idea about things being cannon or not is old, too.  If I were to call someone a "coffee-girl," I hate the fact that someone would say, "You can't say qa'vInbe' because it's not in TKD."), then who is to say that things are cannon?  A group?  An organization?  A vote?  From who?  Contest winners?  Dedicated enthusiasts?  People with a greater knowledge and greater time spent on the language?  Whatever it is, I think something has to
 happen soon...before we're all left without a prayer of expanding the Honorable Language.

[email protected] wrote: 
>Does anyone else out there feel that Klingon should be made "Open Source" 
and >open 
>to a regulatory body such as the KLI to develop further, or do you all think 
that any 
>developments should only come from Mark Okrand?

I agree that tlhIngan Hol should be a growing language and at times, the 
language should change to monitor the changing of times. In any language, the 
vocabulary, meanings and even syntax changes with each new generation. Why 
should tlhIngan Hol be any different? Further, we should begin at some point to 
move away from Mark Okrand being the supreme authority on everything tlhIngan 
Hol. After all, there will be a day when Okrand go on to fight battles along 
side his honored ancestors. Where will we be then? As a child is weaned off of 
mothers' milk, so we should be weaned off of Okrand. The community should 
become the authority on the changes made to the language on consensus; to 
include new vocabulary, and even the syntax used when constructing sentences and 
words with prefixes and suffixes. That is the only way the language will ever 
survive. IMHO, like he said.
-veS joH




Klingon Warrior
taHjaj wo'!
Darren M. Slade





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