tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 17 10:50:12 2005

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New canon? (ENT "Affliction")

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) 

[Apologies if this is old news, but I was in and out of the hospital and 
had no access to email from March through May.]

When "Affliction", the first of the two-part Klingon Augment episodes on 
ENTERPRISE, aired back in February, I thought that the Klingon dialogue was 
surprisingly good, especially the correct use of the verb prefixes.  It was 
so good, in fact, that I carefully scrutinized the end credits to see if 
Marc Okrand's name was listed.  It wasn't.  Yesterday on the Memory Alpha 
site (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Affliction) I finally found 
confirmation that my suspicions were right:

   "The Klingon dialogue heard in this episode was translated by
    Marc Okrand, the author of The Klingon Dictionary and many
    other titles on the Klingon language. Okrand created the
    Klingon dialogue for several of the Star Trek feature films.
    Okrand was consulted by episode writer Mike Sussman, who wanted
    the characters to speak authentic Klingonese."

The Closed Captions were lousy or garbled in transmission, but I was able 
to use them to reconstruct Okrand's dialogue.  Here's my transcript, to 
which I've added some description from Memory Alpha's episode guide (CC = 
"Closed Captions", ST = subtitles, tH = my tlhIngan Hol reconstruction):


TEASER

[On the Qu'Vat colony, a Klingon scientist works in a laboratory, watched 
by a Klingon general and a guard. A representation of a DNA helix is 
displayed behind the scientist. A door opens and a Klingon prisoner is led 
into the laboratory by two soldiers.]

PRISONER:
CC:  qatlh tuneh?
ST:  "What do you want with me?"
tH:  qatlh tuneH

K'VAGH:
CC:  Hyinga OmoH!
ST:  "Secure him."
tH:  yIngaQmoH

[In Klingonese, the prisoner claims that his death sentence was commuted 
and demands to speak with the magistrate who presided over his trial.]

PRISONER:
CC:  loHzI' vISuch a'zIpaQ'
ST:  "I demand to see the magistrate!"
tH:  loHwI' vISuch 'e' vIpoQ

PRISONER:
CC:  zImuHlu' nai zuqHa.
ST:  "My death sentence was commuted!"
tH:  vImuHlu' net wuqHa'

[The soldiers strap him to a chair and hang a vial of green liquid above 
his head, which the scientist injects him with. Confused, the prisoner 
wails as his cranial ridges ripple and begin to dissolve.]

ACT FOUR

[A Klingon boarding party transport into a corridor on Enterprise and kill 
an officer who tried to call for help. Unlike usual Klingons, the members 
of the away team are missing their cranial ridges. They race through the 
corridor and enter an access tube.  When one of the Klingons races to a 
computer panel, Marab issues an instruction in Klingonese.]

MARAB:
CC:  Dah petagh
ST:  ["Begin now!"] (not translated)
tH:  DaH petagh

[The MACOs arrive and fire phase rifles at the Klingons. Marab shoots back 
but the MACOs hide from view and none are injured by the Klingon's 
disruptor fire. Using a communicator to contact his ship, Marab orders the 
Bird-of-Prey to target the MACOs' location.]

MARAB:
CC:  ay'vamDaq nuHmey tiOeg!
ST:  "Target weapons on this location."
tH:  'ay'vamDaq nuHmey tIQeq

[In space, the Bird-of-Prey pounds Enterprise with its disrupter cannons. 
On board Enterprise, Marab watches as the section where the MACOs are 
located explodes, forcing them to retreat. Meanwhile, the Enterprise 
computer terminal that a member of the invading boarding party is working 
on displays Klingon text and graphics, which the officer soon disguises and 
returns to Starfleet characters. Satisfied that their work is completed, 
the Klingons head to the area of the ship where they beamed aboard.]

MARAB:
CC:  jol Quv yIchegh!
ST:  "Return to the transport site."
tH:  jol Quv yIchegh

[On the way there, however, Marab is shot by a MACO and lands beside a 
bulkhead. The boarding party is forced to flee when they become aware of 
armed security officers running towards the Klingons' position. When they 
depart, they leave Marab behind, whom the security officers find.]

AUGMENT:
heard   /nIqpaq Kol/ (???)
ST:     ["Leave him!"] (not translated)
tH:     yItlhapQo'  (lit. "Don't take him!" ??)

[When Archer questions Marab in sickbay, he's surprised to discover that 
their prisoner is Klingon, as Marab is missing the cranial ridges which are 
usually traits of his species.]

MARAB:
CC:  SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh, human.
ST:  "I have nothing to say to you, human."
tH:  SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh, Human


But for the bit after Marab was shot, I think I've got it all.  (Oddly, 
there was no tlhIngan Hol used in the second part "Divergence" 
IIRC.)  Except for {loHwI'} "magistrate" - the derived noun from {loH} 
"administer" (BTW we've heard of Klingon magistrates before in ENTERPRISE.) 
- there are no new words but there are a couple of extended meanings and 
suffixed forms:

{Qeq}      "target" (v.)
{ngaQmoH}  "secure/lock (something)" (v.)
{wuqHa'}   "commute" (lit. "un-decide", i.e. revoke a decision) (v.)
{jol Quv}  "transport site" (lit. "transporter coordinates" (n.)


Comments?



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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