tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 07 10:29:51 2008
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC: New to the List
- From: Doq <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: New to the List
- Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 13:27:48 -0500
- Authentication-results: smtp01.embarq.synacor.com [email protected]; auth=pass (LOGIN)
- Dkim-signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; d=embarqmail.com; s=s012408; c=relaxed/simple; q=dns/txt; [email protected]; t=1228674470; h=From:Subject:Date:To:Mime-Version:Content-Type; bh=VZLqX8UgZVcIav1EdvsxsbklfDI=; b=QAPfc0e3tUV8ydbeWsN9OBDUJ3wOC+gxncqV5PWEy7bbQ4rTxb3L3iwKfn8yBP3R 9/dd93QPpltoozSYFnsu1+zYwtniuMY7tDVITi3/drh1FyvouwEX+7TIWIQ+03c1;
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
- References: <[email protected]>
- X_cmae_category: 0,0 Undefined,Undefined
The patterns are a little more consistent than this reply suggests.
Basically, the vast majority of Klingon syllables consist of one
consonant followed by one vowel followed by one consonant. Note that
{y} is a consonant in Klingon. It ALWAYS counts as a consonant in
Klingon. It cannot be used as a vowel. EVER. Not even once. It's very
similar to {w} in its usage.
Okay, maybe in somebody's made-up proper name.
There are no combinations of consonants at the beginning of a Klingon
syllable. That's why the common English mispronunciation of {Qapla'}
is a mistake. It can't be "ka-plaaaa". The syllable break is {Qap-la'}.
There are very few allowable consonant combinations for the end of a
Klingon syllable:
{rgh}
{y'}
{w'}
There may be others I'm forgetting, but I think that's about it.
There are very few Klingon syllables that consist of a consonant
followed by a vowel. The verb prefixes all fit this, as do a small
number of root words.
The only Klingon syllable that can begin with a vowel is the noun
suffix {-oy}, but even that gets a glottal stop in front of it if it
follows one of the few Klingon syllables that ends in a vowel.
While there can always be new exceptions created by Okrand, he has
been remarkably consistent about this. The very first issue of the
Klingon newsletter described this and there hasn't been any
significant reason to update the basic phonology rules described there.
There have been a couple of proper names that didn't conform to this,
but they have all been borrowed from other languages, like {jon luq
pIqarD}. Apparently Klingons think that Star Trek captains who star in
their shows are exceptionally worthy of unKlingon pronunciation.
Doq
On Dec 5, 2008, at 6:02 PM, Terrence Donnelly wrote:
> --- On Fri, 12/5/08, Ted Williams <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hi. I do have a question specifically about the marking of
>> diphthongs and vowels at the end of words.
>> ...
>> Is
>> there specific rhyme or reason to the presence or absence of
>> the glottal stop?
>>
>
> The glottal stop is a full-fledged consonant in Klingon, on equal
> footing with B, D, gh, etc., not a punctuation feature. The short
> answer is that a word has a glottal stop if Marc Okrand gave it one
> when he made it up.
>
> Klingon syllables are predominantly CVC (consonant-vowel-
> consonant). In some cases, the V can be a diphthong. The final
> consonant can be any consonant, including '. But, as you have
> noticed, some Klingon syllables are CV only. There is no pattern to
> it. But a syllable ending in a V vowel has _no_ final consonant,
> glottal stop or any other.
>
> There also is no correlation between words that end in vowels versus
> the glottal stop or any other consonant. For example, {je} is not
> related to {je'} any more than it's related to {jen} or {jeD}.
> They're all separate words, one of which just happens to be CV and
> not CVC.
>
> -- ter'eS BG
>
>