tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Feb 08 10:48:34 2005
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Re: Pronunciation of " Qapla' "
QeS lagh wrote:
>ghItlhpu' Voragh:
>
> >{bI'reS} - beginning (of an opera, play, story, speech, etc.)
>
>I'm not so sure that this can be tendered as evidence, since it's not a name
>of any sort and there's no evidence (internally, at least) to say that it's
>been borrowed.
I didn't say it had to be a name, just that a majority of these "cluster"
nouns are.
{bI'reS} is, however, an example of an alternative transcription of an
initial cluster using /'/: i.e. /cI'cvc/ vs. the more common /cIcvc/
(where C is any consonant and V any vowel). According to Okrandian
phonology, the /'/ should be audibly pronounced and the words syllabified
as {qI-'em-peq}, {be-'e-tor}, {bI'-rel}, {bI'-reS}, {ghI'-boj}, {tI-'ang},
and {tI'-vIS}. We've only heard "Klingons" pronounce a few: /kem-PEHK/,
/BEH-tore/, /TAHNG/ and /g(eh)-BOJE?/ (Who pronounced {bI'rel} on
screen? {bI'reS} and {tI'vIS} are from Okrand.)
BTW: {bI'reS} "beginning (of an opera, play, story, speech, etc.)" is a pun
from *B'reshit* or *B(e)-reshit*, the Hebrew name of the Book of Genesis
which is also pronounced with a slight schwa vowel.
>{vIlInHoD} is similar in that respect.
Another initial cluster, to be sure. I didn't include it in my list
because it hadn't been transcribed in the "Federation" system. *V'linhod*
or *vl'nhod* perhaps?
> >{ghI'boj Sech} - Torch of G'boj (PN? GN?)
>
>Interesting that you say that. I've often wondered whether {ghI'boj Sech}
>might actually be a metaphor to refer to something other than a torch -
>maybe another volcano that has some special significance in Klingon
>mythology, since it's said that Qo'noS is more seismically active than
>Earth. Unprovable, of course. :)
Here's the relevant part of the script of DS9 "The Sword of Kahless"
(http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/ds9/season4/ds9-409.txt):
KOR
I'm on a quest... a quest for the
most revered icon in Klingon
history.
DAX
(a warning)
Kor...
KOR
(caught up in the moment)
An icon that predates the Klingon
Empire, an icon more sacred than
the Torch of G'boj --
DAX
(stronger)
Kor...
KOR
More revered than Sabak's armor,
and more coveted than the
Emperor's crown!
WORF
(awed)
The Sword of Kahless.
Okrand writes:
... the Torch of G'boj is one of the most revered historical
objects in the Empire, though exactly why is seldom revealed
to outsiders. (KGT p.130)
> >So the solution to the "cluster questions" may be that {tlhIngan Hol} per
> >se - i.e. the "current" privileged dialect (originally spoken in the First
> >City Region?) - has no clusters, but it does permit them in borrowings.
>
>Or perhaps there was another dialect, which was {ta' Hol} at some time in
>the past, that *did* have a tendency to drop {I} in some places;
or never had /I/ to begin with. The insertion of /I/ may be fairly recent.
> maybe the
>"old" transcription reflects that dialect rather than the most modern one
>(so *{vghro'}, *{braqlul}). Quite a few Terran languages have dialects that
>differ in whether they preserve or drop such lax vowels (usually schwa)
>between consonants. Just another theory. {{:)
These aren't "dialects" but they're slightly different, regional
pronunciations: e.g. Standard British English vs. Standard American
English, "southern" American English vs. "northern (Yankee) American
English. Trivial differences in American English such as /tuh-MAY-toe/ vs.
/tuh-MAH-toe/, /puh-LEES/ vs. /POE-leese/, /deh-FENCE/ vs. /DEE-fence/ are
not dialectical, but rather regional, class or social. These are all
acceptable variations within the same dialect. Note that the set of
acceptable variations for American English is different than those for
British English, Australian/New Zealand English, Caribbean English, etc.
To me, calling something a dialect implies a much greater difference than
mere regional or class differences in pronunciation: e.g. using a *great*
deal of different vocabulary, using different grammar in some places, or
even a difference in pronunciation so great as to render it almost
unintelligible to Standard speakers completely unfamiliar with the
"dialect" (e.g. the various German dialects, such as "Svitzer Deutsche" or
Yiddish), Castilian vs. (South) American Spanish, "Ebonics" (Black
Vernacular English) vs. Standard White American English, etc.) At some
point, these dialects may be considered different languages - especially
for political, if not linguistic, linguistic - but certainly when the
dialects become mutually unintelligible.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons