tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 25 08:50:20 2003
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Re: Pronunciation
----- Original Message -----
From: "Klingon Warrior" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 1:35 AM
Subject: Pronunciation
> Is it just me or is pronouncing Klingon difficult?
I, too, have noticed a similar problem. I solved it by looking at English,
German, and Japanese. (A fair, though statistically insignificant, sampling,
I felt.) In these three languages, different speakers of the same language
will pronounce a sound differently, due to differences in vocal apparati,
nasal size and condition, etc, etc. Native speakers rarely notice these
differences probably because their brains have learned to adjust to the most
common range of differences. (I do not know just how, you would probably
have to ask a real linguist that.)
Ex:
High German "Girl" das Maedchen (pronounced kinda like {mey'SIn}, if it were
Klingon).
But my Grandfather would pronounce it like {ma'ey'SIn}, (but not that
extreme), and when I pointed it out to my mother, (I was six), she had never
noticed it.
As an English example, I give only two words... Ted Kennedy. }}: )
Also, each phoneme in a language will have a different sound at the
beginning, middle and end of a word. (I forget what these variations of the
same sound are called. Morphemes?) This is why a recording of {ngabwI'}
played backward will sound nothing like {'Iwbang}.
>I find that listening to his tapes or to him on StarTrek: Klingon confuses
me even
> more.
Oddly enough, I find it helps tremendously. CK helped me to get the glottal
stop.
> Now granted, most letters and most of the language is standard and not
hard to
> comprehend, but letters like: gh,
I pronounce this a very close to a French "r".
> H,
The German final "ch", following an "a" ("achtung!", "Bach")
> Q
I start this as a {q}, then go into a strong {H}.
I think one of the list members has a page with all kinds of sound files for
the Klingon letters.( It used to be on the KLI site, but it's 404 now.)
> I once read an Internet column about the language...can't remember who
they
> quoted but it said that Klingon is more of a written language than it is
spoken.
I think this is a fair assessment. Because this language is directly useful
only on this list and in the context of a fictional construct (ST), it MUST
be a hobby, and so, must be FUN. Most people would contend that it takes a
special breed of psycho to find learning a foreign language fun. There
aren't too many of us out there, and as such, we tend to be scattered pretty
far apart. So speaking opportunities are few and far between. A lamentable
condition, IMO, but one that is suspended every year for three days. Go to a
qep'a', or attend a qepHom!
(I now relinquish the soapbox. Sorry for the long post.)
>
> Klingon Warrior
--ngabwI'
HovpoH juHDaq:
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ngabwi/
HovpoH 700206.2