ja' naHQun: >In tlhIngan Hol; it seems; it is merely a place holder >so that NO words start with a vowel. The letter {'} is a whole lot more than a mere placeholder. It's a full-fledged consonant. It's no less of a sound than any other, and its presence or absence changes the word. The usual example is this pair: tI - vegetation (n) tI' - repair (v) -- ghunchu'wI'