Marc Okrand - Klingon lang 3/5

Linguist Marc Okrand discusses behind the scenes his creation/involvement in the Klingon and to lesser extent - Vulcan, languages.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Linguistics
• films
• Star
• Trek
• conlang
• Klingon
• Vulcan

[MoonBurgle]

when was this recorded?

[SaiyaMel]

@MoonBurgle

Not sure...it was was posted elsewhere on the internet, and i mirrored it here on yt.

[vercon9]

The Klingon Empire is made up of many planets, right? It seems to me that so many different regions is likely to lead to many different dialects of the Klingon language, if not to many different languages spoken by the people of the Empire. Of course, a central media that uses audio, video, and textual information and connects most of the Empire, or, probably much more likely, pride in heritage and/or severe social laws could help keep Klingon as the main language of the Empire.

[SaiyaMel]

@vercon9:

I have thought about that myself, and yeah the Klingons are probably too proud to allow their language (or any other aspect of their culture) to be influenced by another.. However,, Marc Okrand has mentioned that on the Klingon homeworld (like on Earth) there exists other Klingon languages and dielects... and which ever of those languages/dielects became the main language and lingua franca of the Klingon empire.

[BesACB]

What we earthlings call Klingon is actually a planetary lingua franca based on the language of what Klingon historians call the 'trade hub planet'. It exists side by side with other languages much like Javanese and Sundanese exist side by side with Indonesian.

[SaiyaMel]

@BesACB:

Interesting. Does what you said come from Marc Okrand himself?

[SashaDrago]

In Guarani, there is V but no F. In Mandarin Chinese, there it T and T', but no D (even if it is used in pinyin to represent IPA "t")

[BibelotMyFuzball]

people bite dogs... ha ha ha ha ha

[tesseraktik]

@SaiyaMel Also, specifically, when a new Emperor came into power, his/her dialect would become the new official dialect of the Empire: ta' tlhIngan Hol ("the Emperor's Klingonese"; comparable to "the King's English").

Indeed, pride would be an important force in Klingon linguistics; the best way is, of course, the KLINGON way!

[ModernScienceWriting]

"There are a number of dialects in Klingon. Only one of the dialects, that of the current Klingon emperor, is represented here"

That's from my 2nd ed Klingon Dictionary. Basically, the official dialect changes as the current emperor changes