[89225] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: dialects
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Mon Aug 29 15:24:31 2011
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "tlhingan-hol@kli.org" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:17:42 -0500
In-Reply-To: <SNT106-DS12E2968D4E0F8C5BFAB4BAA1140@phx.gbl>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Josh Badgley:
> I have been watching STIII lately and have noticed the err interesting way the
> actors speak Klingon. I assume that the real reason for their "unique" accents is
> that Mr. Okrand was not on the set to coach them, or that the directors knew that
> retakes would cost too much and just didn't care. But I can't help but notice in a
> few scenes that the accent is awfully similar to the way the "regional dialects"
> sound on PK. Would this be the case? I know how much retconning goes into
> correcting errors in Star Trek, and I really don't know if there's any more
> information available on dialects.
>
I think all of the so-called "dialects" (Krotmag, Mekro'vak, Morska, No'hvadut, Ruk'evet, Sakrej, etc.) are the result of back-fitting some actor's or writer's idiosyncratic pronunciation or use of tlhIngan Hol. I only have one explicit quote from Marc Okrand in my notes, but I'm sure those on the list who have met him can provide other examples:
"The original script for Star Trek VI (well, the earliest version that I saw, anyway) had the English translations for the lines spoken by the Klingon at the Morska listening post [i.e. Kesla] in a peculiar kind of English to show that it was a different way of speaking. As the filming proceeded, the character changed somewhat so that he became an inattentive Klingon rather than merely a Klingon from some different region, but we kept the nonstandard dialect anyway. (So he became an inattentive Klingon from a part of the Empire we've not heard much about.)" [Marc Okrand, MSN 3-2-98]
Sakrej Region {Sa'Qej Sep} is the source of many odd pronunciations and grammar, some of which have been more widely adopted as slang (cf. KGT pp. 24-26 for details). As someone on the list once pointed out, {Sa'Qej} is *{ jeQ'aS} - "jackass" - backwards, which may well have been a frustrated Okrand's comment on some actor or Paramount's writing staff!
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
