[165] in tlhIngan-Hol
tlh at end of word
dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sun Feb 16 19:18:31 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Mark E. Shoulson <shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Cc: tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 92 12:00:52 EST
In-Reply-To: Elias Israel's message of Fri, 31 Jan 92 09:17:18 EST <9201311417.
From: Elias Israel <eli@village.boston.ma.us>
On Thu, 30 Jan 92 18:16:00 EST,
"Allan C. Wechsler" <ACW@yukon.scrc.symbolics.com> writes:
>Not affricate; that is, with no stopped onset? The choice of "tlh" as
>the orthography suggested an affricate to me, as does the fact that
>non-Klingons tend to hear this as "kl". If this were a pure fricative,
>wouldn't Okrand have used "lh" in the orthography? (But more thoughts
>on the orthography later.)
Can you go through that again slowly, for the benefit of those of us who
did not take phonology in college? {{:-)
Eli
Basically, a "stop" (or "plosive") is a sound like "b" or "t". It results
from the stoppage of the flow of air through the vocal tract (and usually
its subsequent total release). A "fricative" is a sound like "f" or "z",
it results from allowing air to pass, but restricting it somewhat. An
"affricate" is something that starts like a stop and ends like a fricative,
like "ts" or "ch" (starts like "t" ends like "sh") or "x". As I see it,
"tlh" is an affricate: It starts with the airflow stopped, then the sides
of the tongue drop down, causing that "t" or "k" -like sound, then followed
by a brielf voiceless "lh". Without that initial stop, we'd probably
transcribe "tlhIngan" as "Lingon"!
~mark
