tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 30 13:05:59 2009

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Re: "Authentic" Klingon materials

Christopher Doty ([email protected])



Well, I've kind of make up a meter.  Since stress in Klingon is
slippery, and English worries about stress far more than most
languages, I've just done syllable counts for the meter, ignoring
stress.  Klingon used to use a trinary counting system, so I've used
that as an organizing principle.  So, each stanza has five lines, of
the following pattern:

1. 9 syllables
2. 6 syllables
3. 3 syllables
4. 6 syllables
5. 9 syllables

Or maybe six lines, to match the three-count thinger?

Repeat ad nauseum. I considered adding something about light/heavy
syllables (that is, CV versus CVC), but since like 90% of syllables in
Klingon are CVC, I think this would overcomplicate the meter (at least
for me as a non-fluent speaker).

I've been working on translating the wedding ceremony story from the
<paqbatlh> into this meter.  Maybe I'll share when I'm happy with
it.......

On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 12:23, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:
> ghunchu'wI' 'utlh wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Christopher Doty <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> I'm wondering, though, if anyone has tried their hand at producing
>>> more "authentic," original compositions in Klingon that aren't
>>> translations of extant (human) literature?
>>
>> /study/jatmey.html describes many such attempts (all
>> successful).  There is also the short story {jubHa'}, which appears in
>> the third volume of the _Strange New Worlds_ anthology series.
>
> I've written a few silly things. One was a Trek short story that
> appeared in *jatmey*, and one I've put on the Web:
> http://www.trimboli.name/ghuHmoHQoQ.html
>
> A third came about one {qep'a'} when we had one of our {qaDHommey},
> where you open an envelope, find a phrase, and have to give a speech
> about it in Klingon. Seqram joked that if we wanted to go all out we
> could even write a poem in iambic pentameter with the phrase as the
> acrostic. I, being a wiseguy, did exactly that while everyone else was
> giving their speeches. I've still got the poem around somewhere; I
> should put it on my website.
>
> And, of course, Captain Krankor has written {taHjaj wo'} and {'Iv maH}.
>
> --
> SuStel
> tlhIngan Hol MUSH
> http://trimboli.name/mush
>
>
>
>






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