[430] in tlhIngan-Hol
re: pIqaD issues
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Jan 7 18:03:00 1993
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Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Captain Krankor <krankor@codex.prds.cdx.mot.com>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 93 14:49:56 -0500
I think that Allan and I can certainly agree to disagree about the
pIqaD stuff. I appreciate where he's coming from, and can see how
the historic stuff would be of interest. I presume he also understands
where I'm coming from, in that I'd like to be actually able to read
tlhIngan Hol (and *write* it with the expectation that others could
read it). Frankly, I think there is room for some happy middle ground,
the example of which is already given us in the language as we have it.
tlhIngan Hol certainly contains some irregularities and quirks which do
or might shed historic light, but at the same time it has significantly
less then do (at least some) terran languages. I would be quite content
if there were some possibly-historical quirks in the pIqaD as long as
they weren't an overwhelming barrier to learning.
I do think, though, (and rather strongly at that) that we should leave
the upper-case letters uppercase. One gets used to reading them that
way, one gets used to the 'look' of a word, and I frankly don't think
it's that much of an encumberance to hit the shift key. One particularly
useful function that the odd upper-cases serve is that, in a mixed-language
ghItlh, it is easier to discern at a glance which is English and which is
tlhIngan Hol. Occasionally people make the understandable typo of forgetting
to uppercase an I, for instance, and I do find it takes me that extra
moment to parse it. I would probably agree that, on the whole, it might
have been a better idea for Okrand to have used the lower case for at
least some of these, but given that we now have a whole dictionary and
a lot of tlhIngan Hol writing already using these standards, we should
stick to them. (Similarly, if we do end up with a very quirky pIqaD of
the kind Allan favours, I would rigorously stick with it as defined, quirks
and all, rather than try to redo it on my own. I consider it vital that
we all are on the same page).
As a side note to Allan, I for one would be fascinated to know more about
some of the history that is revealed by English orthography. Like, what
*happened* to make the audible 'e' at the end become silent and all? This,
obviously, should be taken off line, but if he'd be willing to send me
some mail with some of the more interesting tidbits, I'd greatly appreciate
it! I mention it here only because perhaps there are others who'd be
similarly interested.
--Krankor (krankor@codex.com)
