[391] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Federation Science: An Intelligence Report
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Oct 8 15:29:08 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Ken_Beesley.PARC@xerox.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 11:44:00 PDT
In-Reply-To: "mark@dragonsys:com:Xerox's message of 8 Oct 92 08:13 PDT"
Mark Mandel writes:
>One other point: English "s" is not the same as the nearest
Klingon sound, which Okrand writes with a capital "S" to
highlight the difference. The Klingon sound is apparently
articulated retroflex (with the tongue-tip turned up, or
backwards, against the palate).<
I would respectfully offer an alternative interpretation.
TKD, p 15, states that "this sound [S] is halfway between English s and sh"
With English s being alveolar and the sh being alveopalatal, a retroflex
pronunciation for the Klingon S would not be appropriate (a retroflex point of
articulation is further back than the English sh--the Klingon S is articulated
behind the English s and in front of the English sh). The effect is probably
much like the Greek s--listen to a Greek speaking English (e.g. Melina Mercouri
in the film Topkapi). It's not quite an s or an sh, to an English ear, but
something halfway between.
Greeks have trouble saying "Sit here" without getting big laughs.
Okrand might cite, as better comparisons, some subtle variations on /s/ that
can be heard in California American Indian languages.
Ken Beesley
