[519] in tlhIngan-Hol
Building a FAQ: Take Two
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Apr 6 00:01:10 1993
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Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Elias Israel <eli@village.boston.ma.us>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 93 23:11:42 EDT
OK, we tried this some time ago but didn't get much response. With the
publication of the article in Time, I've sent a new invitation for
subscribers to rec.arts.startrek.info, so I expect that we'll soon
attract additional subscribers.
For the benefit of these newcomers, and for the use of all of the
established members of this list, I'd like to build a FAQ that would be
broadcast periodically to the list (monthly sounds like a good start).
I've updated my previous attempt, which is included below. It is by no
means complete. I would like help from as many of you as are able on
the completion of this document. In particular, I'd like to include in
it all of the decisions, controversies, grammatical questions, etc.
that we have already discussed and wouldn't want to re-hash or any
other information that a newcomer might need, in your opinion, and
wasn't available to you when you subscribed to this list. I've included
some starting points or questions in the document as it stands,
surrounded by square brackets. Please see below and contribute what you
can.
Handled correctly, this could be a platform for launching all sorts of
interesting discussions, so let's go for it.
While were on the subject of the usual and customary practices of this
list, I would also like to entertain suggestions for improvements on
the list, either in form or content. I've already got it in my head to
convert the list to an automatic list server, as soon as I can set one
up in a location that I can easily monitor, but any other suggestions
you might have would be welcome. I'd like to have a thriving, fun
list.
Thanks,
Elias Israel
eli@village.boston.ma.us
List Administrator
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tlhIngan Hol
Frequently Asked Questions
* What is the Klingon language?
The Klingon language is the language of the Klingon Empire, of course.
The language that we recognize in this mailing list is laid out in
Mark Okrand's book _The Klingon Dictionary_ (Pocket Books, ISBN
0-671-74559-X, Approx. US$10). If you don't have a copy of this book,
we recommend strongly that you obtain one before posting to the
mailing list. This will help keep the list from being clogged with
simple vocabulary questions, and will allow you to follow the action
much more easily. If you can't find the book in book stores near you,
you can order a copy directly from Pocket Books by calling their mail
order number at (201) 767-5937.
This language was developed by Mark Okrand for the filming of ST:III
TSFS and has been used ever since whenever Klingon dialogue is called
for in the ST movies and in ST:TNG.
* What is the purpose of the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list?
The purpose of the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list is to provide a forum for
people to exercise their Klingon language skills. No additional
purpose is intended or implied. The topics discussed on the list are
essentially unbounded. In fact, the wider the range of discussions,
the better it will be for everyone trying to expand their skills.
* Is there a Klingon font?
Yes and no. While Klingon text has appeared in various "official"
places, the creators of Star Trek have never indicated what the
orthography of those symbols might be. In the original series, Klingon
text was displayed in what has come to be known as the Mandel glyphs. A
Macintosh version of this font exists as well, developed by Dr. Lawrence
Shoen of the Klingon Language Institute. Unfortunately, this character
set is little more than a different way of encoding English; it doesn't
match tlhIngan Hol very well at all. In ST:TNG, a new set of Klingon
characters has begun appearing. However, these still do not come with a
complete orthography and most kligon text on ST:TNG is composed for
artistic rather than lexical reasons. For more information about this
topic, see "Some Comments on Orthography", HolQeD, Volume 1, Number 1.
* What do all those abbreviations mean?
Here are some of the abbreviations you may see on the list, with
their typical meanings:
TOS Star Trek (the original series)
TAS Star Trek (the animated series)
TNG Star Trek: The Next Generation
DSN, DS9 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
ST1 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
ST2 Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
ST3 Star Trek: The Search for Spock
ST4 Star Trek: The Voyage Home
ST5 Star Trek: The Final Frontier
ST6 Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
TKD The Klingon Dictionary
CK Conversational Klingon
* What other forums exist for discussing the Klingon language?
There are many organization dedicated to Klingon fandom, but few whose
charters specifically mention the study and appreciation of the Klingon
language. One notable exception is the Klingon Lanuage Institute, which
began publishing their quarterly journal, HolQeD, in 1992.
Contact: Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen
Director
Klingon Language Institute
P.O. Box 634
Flourtown, PA 19031-0634
Dr. Schoen can be contacted via email at <angghal@aol.com>.
Individual copies of HolQeD are priced at US$4. Yearly subscriptions
for individuals are US$12 in the USA, US$15 in Canada, and US$18
overseas. Institutional subscriptions are priced at US$24, US$27, and
US$30, respectively.
Interested parties are encouraged to submit articles for publication
in HolQeD to Dr. Schoen.
* Do Klingons really mean "what do you want?" when they start
conversations with "nuqneH"?
Although starting every conversation with nuqneH may sound odd to Terran
ears, especially when you consider that the literal meaning of that
phrase is indeed "what do you want?", it shouldn't phase the student of
Klingon. After all, Hebrew speakers do not really mean "peace" when they
start and end conversations with "shalom", and I believe I've heard of a
Baltic culture that uses a word that translates as "Victory" (Qapla'?)
to start and end conversations. While the choice of these salutatory phrases
may reflect cultural aspects of the speaker and language, the meaning is
always the same: "hello, I recognize you, you may begin talking."
* How do I form verbs that have both an indeterminate subject (-lu')
and the ability suffix (-laH), as in "one can kill prisoners?"
As these are both type 5 suffixes, it is ordinarily impossible to
combine both of these concepts in one Klingon verb. This necessitates
the use of the Klingon sentential reference, using the "net"
conjunction. (Section 6.2.5 in TKD) The example above might be
rendered as:
qama'pu' HoHlu' net ta'laH
prisoners one kills one is able to
* Do I really have to capitalize all my I's, D's, H's and S's?
Yes. While no one is especially fond of the unique capitalization
scheme that Okrand chose, retaining it does serve at least three
functions. First, it makes looking things up in the dictionary much
more difficult when the cases have been changed. Second, it does serve
to remind the reader that the text is Klingon and not English. Finally,
new speakers coming to the list for the first time are already expected
to have difficulty with the language and adding "house rules" or "list
arcana" on top of that may hinder their progress.
It should be noted that this discussion has generated some controversy
on the list and that one should not assume that all members of the list
like this convention. However, it seems the best overall choice even
though it may be a little harder on the fingers.
Some people have suggested that a filter could be developed to
translate between "normal" form and "monocase" form. For the most
part, this could be done easily because the "expert system" for
deriving the proper cases would probably only require a small number
of rules. However, no one has produced such a filter as yet.
[ What other common grammar questions might we want to put here? ]
[ What other controversies do we not want to re-hash? We should
put our resolutions here too. ]
* Can we contact Marc Okrand?
Not at present. He works for the National Captioning Institute and I
still have some hope that he might have an email account somewhere, but
as yet we don't have any really good access to him. Nor do we really
know if he'd want to be contacted.
* On what Terran language did Okrand base tlhIngan Hol?
Klingon is not based on any single Terran language or type of Terran
language. According to Okrand, he incorporated all sorts of things,
from Native American to Chinese, and if he noticed he was putting too
much of any one language into it, he explicitely made an effort to back
off and use a different source.
* Are there any courses offerred in Klingon?
Yes. First, there is the tape "Conversational Klingon" from Simon and
Schuster (see address below). It features language instruction by Marc
Okrand himself and narration by Michael Dorn. This light-hearted tape
is invaluable as a pronuciation guide and also offers language tidbits
that are not available in the dictionary.
Contact: Simon and Schuster Audio Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
[I know someone on this list is offering a learn-by-mail Klingon
course. OK, 'fess up: who is it?]
[And whatever happened to the course materials that were out on
the net?]
