tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 12 08:04:21 2004

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Re: [email protected]?

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Thorwald:
> >I was looking for a way to say "sounds like" and although I know you
> >should really try to find an equivalent, I wasn't able to.

Philip:
>I would probably go with {rur} "resembles, is similar to" -- or if
>more clarity is needed, {QoyDI', Y rur X} "when you hear/listen, X
>resembles Y".

This is good.  You might want to add {wab} "sound, noise":

   Y wab rur X wab'e'.
   The sound of X resembles the sound of Y.
   As for the sound of X, it resembles the sound of Y.

Other types of sound are {QoQ} "music" ("meaning musical sound, whether or 
not a Klingon voice is participating in producing this sound" [HQ 2.4]), 
{bom} "song, chant" for musical speech, and {ghogh} "voice".

Considering that {wab} also means "noise", {QIch} "speech (i.e. vocal 
sounds)" might be better for the vocal sound of a particular phoneme or 
word.  There is only one example of {wab} in canon:

   'arlogh wab Qoylu'pu'?
   How many times has someone heard the sound?
   How many times has the sound been heard?
   [i.e. What time is it?]  (st.klingon 2/99)

and no examples of {QIch}, but searching KGT for "sound" pulls up (inter alia):

   In particular, the spelling conventions used for Klingon words are
   explained there [i.e. TKD], as are descriptions of Klingon sounds."
   (KGT 5)

   Some of the differences in Klingon speech are relatively trivial:
   rate or cadence of speech, for example, or a slight difference in the
   pronunciation of a specific sound." (KGT 7)

   This is, of course, the case when two people are speaking two different
   languages--with utterly different sounds, grammar, and vocabulary--each
   unknown to the other speaker." (KGT 8)

   Those in the Krotmag ({Qotmagh}) region, for example, have characteristic
   ways of pronouncing the sounds {b} and {D}, as well as the vowels.
   (KGT 18)

So decide out which word is appropriate for what you're trying to 
say.  Does {QIch} refer to a series of vocal sounds {ghogh wabmey}?

And while we're on the subject, there's no word for "pronounce" either, so 
{jatlh} "say, speak" will have to do: perhaps {jatlhchu'} "say 
perfectly".  For "mispronounce" we have {jatlhHa'} "mis-speak, say the 
wrong thing" available; very badly pronounced or garbled speech can often 
be rendered with the slang verb {jat} "speak incoherently, mumble".



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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