tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 12 13:43:56 2009
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RE: Yet another newbie!
buSwI' ([email protected]) wrote:
>> One thing in particular that puzzles me is how {Duy'a'} and {Duy''a'}
>> differ in sound, that is, how to say {''}.
SuStel:
>Formally, a doubled glottal stop should be lengthened; that is, the {''}
>takes a little longer to say than just {'}. However, most Klingons tend
>to shorten doubled glottal stops, so most Klingons would pronounce
>{Duy''a'} like {Duy'a'} anyway. Pronouncing the lengthened {''} is still
>acceptable, and considered more formally correct. (See KLINGON FOR THE
>GALACTIC TRAVELER, page 138.)
>
>When I speak, I pronounce the lengthened {''}.
Since buSwI' is unlikely to have KGT (KLINGON FOR THE GALACTIC TRAVELLER) yet, here's the relevant paragraph (pp. 138-139):
The differences in pronunciation between younger and older Klingons
are rather subtle. As a result, the characteristic patterns of younger
people's speech, if noticed and commented upon, are more likely to be
judged "sloppy" or "careless" rather than "wrong." First of all, some
younger speakers tend to pronounce doubled consonants as if they were
single, while older speakers pretty much maintain the distinction
between single and doubled consonants. For example, in the word {qettaH}
("He/she keeps on running"; {qet}, "run, jog," plus {-taH}, "continuous"),
an older Klingon would either pronounce each {t} distinctly, releasing
the first one with a puff of air before articulating the second, or else
he or she would hold the {t} just a bit before releasing it, so that the
time taken up would be about the same as if each {t} were articulated
separately. A younger speaker, on the other hand, may pronounce the word
as if it were {qetaH}, though with the stress remaining on the first
syllable as it is in {qettaH}. Similarly, an older speaker would probably
maintain the {mm} in {bommey} ("songs"; {bom}, "song," plus {-mey}, plural
indicator) by either pronouncing each {m} distinctly or, more likely in
this case, prolonging the {m}; some younger speakers (though a smaller
number than in the case of {tt}) might say {bomey}, again with stress
remaining on the first syllable. Only in the case of {''} (as in {pa''a'}
["big room"]: {pa'}, "room," plus {-'a'}, an augmentative) is there a
tendency in both groups to reduce the {''} to a single {'}, though {''}
(a somewhat prolonged gap between the preceding and following {a}) is
hardly unknown or archaic-sounding. The reduction of doubled consonants
to single follows a clear pattern. Those most likely to be reduced are
{pp}, {tt}, [???], and, as noted above, {''}; least likely to be reduced
are {ll}, {mm}, {nn}, {ngng}, {vv}, {ww}, and {yy}.
[The {???} represents a lacuna in my notes which I'll have to correct.]
>> Also, I wonder about using locative in a noun phrase, as in {bIQDaq
>> veng}, my attempt at translating "the city on the water" (yes, I know
>> a true Klingon would not associate his city with water...). Is that ok?
>
>No, that's not right. TKD 3.4 says that only the last noun in a
>noun-noun construction may take a Type 5 suffix.
See TKD p. 50:
If a Type 5 noun suffix is used (section 3.3.5), it follows the
verb, which, when used to modify the noun in this way, can have
no other suffix except the rover {-qu'} "emphatic". The Type 5
noun suffix follows {-qu'} ...
veng tInDaq in the big city
veng tInqu'Daq in the very big city
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons