tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 30 07:17:08 2003
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Re: Klingon Alphabet
From: "Klingon Emperor" <[email protected]>
> But wouldn't little Klingon children need to have a name for each
"symbol/letter/pictogram/whatever"? I don't understand
> how the "drawings" in the pIqaD still can't be named individually.
Klingons, when spelling/describing out things to
> eachother, would need some form of telling what picture to draw, qar'a'?
The question of if is an alphabet shouldn't matter
> too much...I just want to say something other than, "Qapla' is spelled
que, ae, pee, el, ae, apostrophe." Know what I
> mean?
Suppose I told you that one of the Klingon writing symbols was called "yaDa"
by Klingons.
Now, tell me how to use it. Go ahead; I dare you.
You can't tell me what sound it stands for, because we don't know if the
writing symbols stand for sounds.
You can't tell me what word it stands for, because we don't know if the
writing symbols stand for words.
You can't tell me what syllable it stands for, because we don't know if the
writing symbols stand for syllables.
You can't tell me what suffix it stands for, because we don't know if the
writing symbols stand for suffixes.
In fact, you can't do ANYTHING with it, because you haven't got the foggiest
notion of how it's used!
You can't tell me how to spell something in Klingon if you don't know
anything about Klingon spelling. And you don't know anything about Klingon
spelling. You don't even know if they spell with their writing system!
The ***ONLY*** thing you can say is how words are PRONOUNCED. That's all.
What's worse: you can't even give me a complete symbol inventory. You know
so little about the writing system, you can't even show me all of the
symbols, and be certain that's all of them. You know that picture of glyphs
on the KLI's page? That's no good; it's not "canon." It doesn't count.
It's not used by Klingons.
So don't bother pining for names for Klingon "letters." There are no such
things known.
SuStel
Stardate 3410.0