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*************************************************************
* An Introduction to The Klingon Language *
* *
* Part 1: Introductions *
* *
*************************************************************
This guide to the Klingon Language was compiled from two main sources:
'The Final Reflection', by John M. Ford, and 'The Klingon Dictionary', by
Marc Orkand. Both books are highly reccomended for further study, as well as
these additional sources: 'The Klingons' suppliment for 'Star Trek - The Role
Playing Game', first edition (co-concieved with John M. Ford); the section on
the Klingons in both 'The Making of Star Trek' by Stephen E. Whitfield and some
guy named Roddenberry, and 'The World of Star Trek', by David Gerrold; 'Pawns
and Symbols', by Majliss Larson; and anything else I may have forgotten. And
regardless of what I have forgotten, this text series is dedicated to all those
listed above and mentioned elswhere (with the exception of Vonda McIntyre, and
if by some miracle this text should reach her, I should hope that she knows
that I am not alone is wishing that she would quit redefining everything in
'Star Trek' to suit her personal desires and simply write entertaining novels
that are ACCURATE!!!) with the confines of this series.
Since this is meant only to be an introdution to the Klingon Language, and
not an official comprehensive text, two things need to be made clear before
continuing on to the subject matter. The first of which concerns the source
materials. As the 'Dictionary' was written by the same person who designed both
the Klingon and Vulcan languages for the 'Star Trek' films, Mr Orkand's very
excellent version of the Klingon vocabulary is considered by Paramount Pictures
as being the 'official recognized version' of the subject in question. And due
to it's concise nature in detailing all of the proper aspects of a language, is
for almost all intents deserving of it's status. It really is a well done text
dictionary for translating another language into English, even if it is one
that exists only in the hearts and minds of the fans. Now, if only some other
texts used for REAL languages were structured like this....
However, as with most things concerning 'Star Trek', the fans who actually
breathe the majority of life into this American institution have had a bit of
difference of opinion on some of Mr. Orkand's material. This conflict stems
from Orkand's apparant discrediting certain Klingon language elements as those
used in 'The Final Reflection', the most notable of these being certain 'color-
ful metaphors'that are vital to any language. The fans, while accepting the
'Dictionary' well enough to prompt multiple print runs by the publisher, still
considered the phrases in 'Reflection' as having jurisdiction based on the
fact that 'they were there first.' Not to mention the fact that despite the
small number of words presented in 'Reflection' (as compared with roughly 15
times as much in the 'Dictionary'), John Ford's Klingon Language elements were
still able to reveal a remarkable amount of phonetic and grammatical structure.
One reviewer for a fan magazine (which has grown so dull over the years that
it will not be named here...) even made comparisons betwixt Ford's phrases and
the Russian Language, which with all of it's cases, declensions and tenses is
considered one of the more complexly structured of all Terran languages.
Still, only Orkand's version is 'officially' recognized by those who are
in publishing 'Star Trek' related material, and reportedly only the Orkand
material will 'sanctioned' for use in forthcoming 'Trek' novels and films. It
should be noted, however, that Orkand does mention in his preface that there
are several different Klingon dialects, and that the one used is dependent on
which racial or political faction is currently in power. Keeping this in mind,
it is now quite possible for both the Ford and Orkand versions to co-exist in
the 'Star Trek' universe. Adding further credability to this notion is the fact
that some of Orkand's terms have more than one Klingon equivalent, a fact that
the author also acknowledges, and states that the differences may either be
dialectically related, or may in fact refer to the same item under different
circumstances, uses, forms, or an unspecified variant nature.
Thus, taking all of Orkand's disclaimers into consideration, as well as
the preferences of the fans, this series of Introductions will take advantage
of both versions, as well as the other smattering of phrases and terms from
some of the other 'Trek' novels and movies, most notably, terms and phrases
from
'Pawns and Symbols", by Majliss Larson, and whatever can be distilled from the
first 'Trek' movie, whose Klingon and Vulcan phrases were also concieved by Mr.
Orkand, but were not supported by the versions used in the Third film. This, in
fact, may be the true reason for admitting the existence of several different
dialects: a cover for discarding prior material. I should also note that in her
most recent novel 'Battlestations!', Diane Carey also makes mention of the
differing Klingon sub-races, as well as Vonda McIntyre in her rather...well,
disputed novel "Enterprise: The First Mission'. The former manages to even use
races mentioned in both the Ford and Orkand materials, while the latter merely
ignores them in favor of 'her' rather convoluted views on how the Klingons
should behave. Still, their contributions and/or contradictions neede to be
mentioned here, as they may yet pop up in this Introduction...
Finally, the second point that needs to be stressed is that the materials
presented here are, with the exception of my own personal interpretations, the
property of Paramount Pictures Inc, and any reproduction of these materials for
the intent of resale, is expressly prohibited, forbidden, and punishable by
law (or whatever it's applicable equivalent happens to be at the moment of the
arrest...). This material can be distributed as freeware only, and any use of
for downloading on a 'pay board' or similar computer communications system is
bound by these restrictions and their accompanying penalties. To put it in a
nutshell, this stuff is the property of Paramount where sales are concerned,
but when it's given away, it's considered part of our National heritage, and
it's things like that that not only make this country great, but kept 'Star
Trek' alive during those bleak years of the early 70's. Paramount has, for the
most part, realized this, so don't worry about having this stuff in your hot
little hands.
Besides, it's only here to make this BBS a bit more unique. Betcha won't
find this stuff on any CTSA boards, either; they have enough trouble speaking
English!!
Omega Man/Khaless III
-System Emperor
The Klingon Empire! BBS
512-471-5850
************************************************************
* An Introduction to the Klingon Language *
* *
* Part 2: Another Introduction *
* *
************************************************************
Klingonaase is the official language of the Klingon Empire, a language
that until recently was spoken by very few non-Klingons. A complex language
only due to lack of reference material, Klingonaase is a language that requires
a high fluency in order to avoid a dangerous (and possibly fatal) slip of the
tongue/vocal apparatii. This in fact was the case in several instances over
the years that the Federation and the Empire have known of one another.
Only through the help of Maltz tai-Destram, was the true depth of the
Klingon language made apparant. Riddled with many differing dialects, Klingon-
aase is far more complex than previously believed. However, this new level of
understanding is still far from complete, and has also taken a serious setback.
Regretfully, Maltz deemed it necessary to commit ritual suicide before he could
assist in further studies, and several inportant areas were left incomplete.
Thus, this series of text files is a bit lacking in primarily three areas.
First, of course, is scientific terminology. It is quite understandable
why Maltz was hesitant to talk about this, considering his training. Still,
another research group is in the process of collating knowledge from various
sources, including the recently declassified Vulcan 'Tharavul' files, and a
report on Klingon terms for the various sciences and their tools is currently
being prepared. It's release date is not yet knowm.
Secondly, terms for native traditional tools, customs, flora, fauna, and
food are not covered outside of what is already known. Little is known about
the Klingon homeworld and it's inner Imperial states, and this is especially
the case for the items mentione above. In the area of foods, the problem is
especially large, as there is a lack of resources as well as almost a total
lack of volunteers for any sort of study on Klingon eating habits.
Thirdly, certain various sub-dialects are unrepresented here, as what few
words that are available have not been accurately translated, and no correcting
source is yet availiable. In reference to this last excluded classification,
it would be in order to list what races, sub-races, cultures and political
strata are covered in this text series. At the present time, the following
races are known to makeup the majority of races within the Klingon Empire:
Klingon Mainline
Klingon / Human-stock Fusion
Klingon / Romulan-stock Fusion
Of these three, there are numerous other minor sub-species. For a further
explanation of these races and their relationship to one another, please refer
to the text files concerning this matter, RACES.TXT. Still, a short list of the
major Social and Cultural groups within the Empire needs to mentioned here in
order to grasp the scope of what a total tranlational/transliterational text
would have to cover in order to be complete.
The sociocultural division of the Klingon Empire are known to consist of
the following groups: Klinzhaii, or Klingonii, which is the parent race of all
the known races, and until recently held the majority of power within the
Empire. The captains Kor and Koloth are but two of the known represenatives of
this group, although the legendaty Thought Admiral Kethas and the previous
Emperor, Krenn, are perhaps the most documented examples; Rumaiym, a group
based on a religious belief in two deities, Durgath and Cymele. Recently the
Rumaiym has come into possession of the throne, though this may change in
light of the recent Genesis crisis. Captain Kang is but one of the known
examples of this group, as are his Uncle, the current Emperor, Maltz and his
crewmate, Torg; Wijngan, a smaller group that advocates the rapid accelleration
of all less developed races within the Empire (both Klingon-stock and
Non-Klingon races) to the a level slightly less developed than the mainline of
the Empire, and uniting the whole Empire on a holy war against the Federation.
Contrary to popular beliefs, this group does not represent the general creedo
of all Klingon races, as it would entail raising even the servitor classes to
a near-equal level as their masters. Krell, the captain in charge of the Neural
Technological Assistance Force, is one of the few examples known, while Kang's
wife, Mara, was allegied to this group until well after her marrage.
Standing in a peculiar position are the Kumburan, a small group consisting
of primarily one family line dedicated to the fine art of diplomacy in all
it's aspects. They are presently at odds with the Rumaiym, but are 'tolerated'
due to their talents, which have become more invaluable due to the events in
recent years. The most notable representative is the Ambassador-Judiciator
Kamarrag, who not only led the negotiation team at the Organian Peace Confer-
ence, but recently was involved in the closing events of the Genesis Crisis;
and finally, the Daqualu, or 'The Remembered'. The name is not used as a honor,
but rather as an insult upon this group, which consists of individuals, ship
crews, and even whole name-lines that have fallen into disgrace with whichever
group is currently in power. They exist only to survive until they can regain
their former status by performing some covert (read: suicidal) service for the
Empire. The one major point of interest about the Daqawlu is the fact that they
will not backstab one another to regain their status, as they have taken a
sworn vow that even those against them regard it's trangression as treason
against the Empire as a whole. The most 'Remembered' of the Daqawlu is Kruge,
the captain who attempted to steal the Genesis Device, as was his consort,
Valkris.
There are also two major classifications that all Klingons are divided
into, regardless of race or creed: those who believe in the Komerex Zha, or
the 'Perpetual Game' of life, and those who do not. The belief that life is
naught but a game that is played to the end of one's existence is one that has
divided (albeit non-violently) the Empire into two roughly equal sides. Those
who do not believe in the game base their belief on the fact that a game must
have knowlegable rules of some form. Then again, it is also said that to deny
the existence of the game is itself a game strategy. Regardless, the belief and
non-belief in the Komerex Zha has a profound effect on Klingon life in all of
its myriad facets, much in the same way religion has on Terran and Centaurian-
based cultures.
As expected, each of the individual Sociocultural groups possesses their
own dialect. This is where the major complications arise when trying to under-
stand and translate Klingonaase, for some of these dialects differ in only a
few words, mostly those referring to words classified in the second and third
classes of exclusion used by this text. In general, Technological and
Scientific terms tend to be the same regardless of dialect, with only minor
varyances for differing forms of possession and plurality. This is primarily
for the facilitation of spreading new technologies across language barriers.
One example of a word that has a different meaning in every known dialect
is the word for 'forehead', which can also mean 'horizon', 'hairpiece',
'green'.
'stagnant water', and 'heat'. The reasons for this kind of difference are not
yet fully understood, and may reflect words acqured from alien languages with
similar-sounding words of different meaning, such as the case of the Russian
word 'Slav', which means 'word' or 'people' in Russian, while in German it
stands for 'dumb' or 'lower'.
Also as expected, each group prides itself on the diversity of their
languages, and knowledge of more than one's own dialect is always to one's
benefit. However, the past four Emperors have put into motion Imperial Edicts
that will eventually unify all of the major dialects into a common language
(similar to the experimental Esperanto composit language of Terra), and though
this has met some resistance, it has resulted in Clipped Klingonaase, or what
is more commonly known as Battle Language. As all military personell are
taught this from the begenning of their tours of duty, Battle Language may
indeed pave the way for such a unified language. Due to it's importance, it is
covered later on in this text series.
Before ending this introduction, some other facts need to be made about
the Klingons and their language. First, in lieu of a unified language for other
non-Klingons (read: the Federation) to refer to, most Klingons use Standard
Federation Galactic (a language much like 20-21st century English) when ouside
the confines of the Empire. Ergo, knowledge of Galactic is usually limited to
officers and higher-ranks, and any Klingon fluent in Galactic has about as much
leverage as one being fluent in two additional dialects. With the number of
Galactic training texts being made available to the average Klingon increasing,
the weight that such knowledge has on status may eventually decrease over time.
Still, it is a valuable tool for any Klingon.
Secondly, with only a few exceptions in the Klingonii/Klinzhaii form of
Klingonaase, the Klingon language is virtually devoid of any sort of ritual
greetings along the lines of 'hello, how are you?', 'good morning', etc. It
would appear that outside of military protocol, this sort of communication has
no place in Klingon society outside of the Klingonii/Klinzhaii group. As a
whole Klingons tend to get to the main points when speaking, saving any sort of
'idle banter' for recreational periods. Even then, the greetings are limited to
a not-so-curt 'what do you want?' or 'What is your status?'. The Klingonii/
Klinzhaii exception appears to have derived from interaction with alien races
where such communication phrases are essential to avoiding conflict where it
is actually unbeneficial to the nature of the situation, despite the Klingon
penchant for either starting or finishing such conflicts!
Finally, it would also be in order to make note that the rest of this
text series will cover as much of the common elements of the various dialects
as possible. Where applicable, all known dialects will be represented, although
the majority of information currently deals with Rumaiym Klingonaase. Still,
the majority of this information is reflected in Klingonii/Klinzhaii dialect,
as well as Wijngan and roughly half of what is known of Kumburan. With this
in mind, careful study should enable a non-native speaker to communicate enough
to get his point across without finding his point surplanted by the point of a
Klingon Blood Sword!
************************************************************
* An Introduction to the Klingon Language *
* *
* Part 3: The Klingon Alphabet, *
* and Pronounciation *
* Varyances with Dialects *
* *
************************************************************
The Klingons, regardless of race or culture, all use a form of writing
called pIqaD (pronouced PEE-kaD, with stress on both the pI and the D). As this
is only rudimentarily understood, with the aid of the late Maltz, a transliter-
ated form of the pIqaD system was concieved in order to facilitate translation/
transliteration of the various forms of Klingonaase. Accompanying this trans-
literated form is a phonetic guide that will enable anyone who can speak in
standard Galactic or English to approximate the proper sounds of the Klingon
language. With a little practice there should be a minimum of difficulty in
forming words and phrases that are at least relatively intelligeable by most
Klingons. There will be a problem with having a 'Federation' accent, but even
the most experienced non-native Klingonaase speakers manage to retain some sort
of an accent regardless of the amount of training and use they recieve.
The transliterated form of pIqaD is arranged as follows:
a,b,ch,D,e,gh,H,I,j,l,m,n,ng,o,p,q,Q,r,S,t,tlh,u,v,w,y,'
Note that ch,gh,ng and tlh are considered separate letters, so the
syllable 'no' would proceed the syllable 'nga' in a Klingon listing.
The following is the phonetic guide for the pIqad above:
VOWELS
a - as in psalm or awful, but never as in crabapple.
e - as in sensor or jenny
I - as in misfit or idiom. It can be as in zucchini, but this appears to
be limited to plurality in Klingonii/Klinhaii dialect as far as wide
useage goes. For the most part, though, only rarely.
o - as in mosaic or modem
u - as in prune or june or gnu, but never as in but or cute
Note here that when a vowel is followed by w or y, the combination of
sound may not represent the same sound as in the Galactic/English spelling
pIqaD sounds like as in English
aw ow cow
ay y cry
ey ay pay
Iy ey key
oy oy toy
*** CONSONANTS ***
b - as in bronchitis or gazebo. Some Klingons, primarily the Wijngan, tend
to pronounce this sound as if it were m and b articulated almost
simultaneously. This sound variant can be approximated my by saying
imbalance without the initial i sound. Some Daqawlu speakers tend to
interpose the m and the b sounds.
ch - as in chew or artichoke or cheese.
D - this sound is close to the d in android, but is not quite the same,
as in English d is made by touching the tip of the tongue to that
part of the roof of the mouth just above the teeth. Klingon D can
be approximated by placing the tongue slightly higher above the teeth
than in English d . In Wijngan dialect, this is also pronounced more
like it was nd, as in hand, while many Kumburan speakers actually
drop the d to a silent letter and just use the n, as in can.
gh - this is not like anything in Galactic/English. It can be produced by
putting the tongue in the same position it would be to say g in the
word gobble, but relaxing the tongue somewhat and humming. It is the
same as Klingon H (see below), but with the vocal chords vibrating at
the same time.
H - This is also not like anything in Galactic/English. It is best approx-
imated by the ch sound in Bach. It is produced in the same way as in
Klingon gh, but with a strong articulated rasp, and the vocal chords
do not vibrate. In Kumburan and Daqawlu dialects, the rasp is a bit
less stressed, more like the j in Tijuana.
j - as in Junk, but never as French jour, regardless of dialect.
l - as in lunge or alchemy
m - as in mud or pnumatic. Daqawlu speakers who transpose the m and b
sounds must learn to memorize the correct spellings without the aid of
phonetic interpretation.
n - as in nectar or sunspot. Kumburan speakers who pronounce Klingon D as
n have shown that they can indeed tell the difference between the two
sounds when articuated by another Kumburan speaker. Even a D that
sounds like n in pronounced with the tongue in the Klingon D
position and not the English d position. Klingon n is produced with
the tongue in the same position as Galactic/English d.
ng - as in furlong, never as in engulf. The g is never pronounced as a
separate sound, and although it never occurs at the start of English
words, it does so for many words in Klingonaase. It can be best spoken
by saying the words 'dang it!', but without the 'da'.
p - as in parallax, and always with a strong puff or pop. This normally
discharges saliva, which is something Klingonaase speakers never worry
about, especially Daqawlu speakers.
q - this is similar to the k in kumquat, but not quite. Klingon q is
pronounced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth much
farther back than it does in gh or H. In fact, it almost sounds
like the speaker is choking (much like certain attempts of
non-speakers in the use of French). This sound is also accompanied by
a puff of air. It is never pronounced kw, as in quagmire.
Q - This is a rather overdone Klingon q. It is identical to Klingon q, but
is very gutteral and raspy, and strongly articulated, somewhat like a
blend of Klingon q and H. Klingonii/Klinzhaii speakers tend to further
stress this by pronouncing it as if it had a glottal stop between the
Q and the next syllable, tho this is mostly confined to certain more
'colorful' metaphors.
r - similar to the r in Spanish, but only lightly trilled.
S - this sound is halfway between s and sh, as in syringe and shuttle,
and is made with the tip of the tongue reaching toward that part of
the roof of the mouth which it touches in Klingon D.
t - as in tarpaulin or critique. It differs from Klingon D it two ways:
(1) like p, it is accompanied by a puff of air, and (2), the tongue
touches a position on the roof of the mouth farther foreward than that
for D.
tlh - this sound does not occur in English, byt is very much like the sound
tle in kettle, if properly pronounced. To produce this sound, this tip
of the tongue touches the same part of the roof of the mouth it
touches for t, the sides of the tongue are lowered away from the
sides of the upper teeth, and air is forced between sides of tongue
and teeth.
v - as in vulgar or demonstrative.
w - as in worry or cow. In Daqawlu and Wijngan dialects, this is often
overstressed, more like English 'hw' or 'huw'. This occasionally will
happen in the other known dialects, but it usually limited to stresses
of deliberate intent, especially in Kumburan.
' - this indicates a sound that is frequently uttered, but not written in
English. It is a glottal stop, that slight catch in the throat between
the two syllables of English 'uh-oh' or 'uh-huh'. When Klingon ' comes
at the end of a word, the vowel preceeding the ' is often repeated in
a soft whisper, as if a weak echo. When ' follows y or w at the end
of a word, there is often a whispered, echoed u or I, respectively.
Occasionally, the echo is quite audible, with a gutteral soung like
gh preceeding the echoed vowel. This commonly occurs in Kumburan, but
in other dialects this extra-heavy echo is heard most often when the
speaker is extremely angry or excited.
*** STRESS ***
Each word in Klingonaase of more than one syllable normally contains
one stressed (or accented) syllable. The stressed syllable is pronounced at a
slightly higher pitch and with a little more force than the nonstressed one(s).
In a verb, the stressed syllable is usually the verb itself, as
opposed to any prefix or suffix. However, if a suffix ending with ' is separ-
ated from the verb by at least one other suffix, both the verb and the suffix
ending in ' are stressed. Suffixes indicating negation or emphasis are frequ-
ently stressed, as is the interogative suffix.
In a noun, the stressed syllable is usually the syllable right before
the first noun suffix. If, however, a syllable ending in ' is present, it is
usually stressed instead. If there are two syllables in a row that end with a
' , then both are equally stressed.
Finally, it should be noted that there are some words which seem to
have variable stress patterns, with the stress sometimes switching from one
syllable to another. This has even been recorded as happening when a word is
spoken twice in the same sentence. This phenomenon is not yet understood, but
if accepted rules are followed, stress will wind up on accepted syllables.
In this text series, the system used to transliterate Klingonaase does
not indicate stress. The sole exception to this is the phrase text file at the
end of this series.
************************************************************
* An Introduction to the Klingon Language *
* *
* Part 4: Nouns and Suffixes *
* *
* *
************************************************************
This text file deals with Klingon nouns and their use. Before continuing,
it should be noted that a complete description of Klingon grammar is virtually
impossible due to both it's complex nature and lack of resources. However, this
guide should cover enough areas for the student of Klingonaase to be able to
understand what a Klingon is saying, and be able to communicate back, albeit in
a brutish, yet intelligible manner. Most Klingons, however, will notice know
the difference, unless some breach of conduct is in addition.
Essentially, there are three basic parts of Klingon grammar that will be
discussed here: Nouns, Verbs, and Everything Else...
NOUNS
There are various types of nouns in Klingonaase. Simple nouns, Complex
nouns, and Compound nouns. Simple nouns are nouns made up of one-syllable
words, such as DoS (target). Complex nouns are are formed from two, sometimes
three syllables that separately have no meaning, or their separate meanings
have no relationships to the complex noun. For example, lurDech (tradition) can
be broken into lur (pupil of eye) and Dech (surround), but the definitions are
not the same when the word is combined. Again, the differences may indeed be
attributed to dialectic accommodation to alien words and phrases, but without
further research materials this can only be speculation at this time.
The third type of noun, the Compound noun, consists of two, three, and
even four nouns in a row, yet grammatically combined together into 'one' word.
An English example of course is earthworm, while in Klingonaase one such
example is jolpa' (transporter room), which is formed from jol (transport beam)
and pa' (room).
Another form of Complex noun consists of a noun followed by a verb whose
meaning is 'one who does' or 'thing that does'. This is roughly similar to the
Galactic/English suffix '-er', as in 'builder'. In Klingonaase, the suffix is
-wI'. An example of this is baHwI' (gunner), which is formed from baH (fire <a
torpedo>) and -wI' (one who does). Ergo, baHwI' is literally 'one who fires <a
torpedo>.' Similarly, So'wI' (cloaking device) comes from So' (cloak) and -wI'
(that which does), and is literally 'thing which cloaks'. Complex -wI nouns
area also formed from verbs by adding the -wI suffix, as in the Rumaiym word
toy'wI' (servant), which is derived from toy' (to serve) and -wI'. -wI' nouns
can also be used with another noun to form a new Compound noun. For example,
the Klingonaase word tIjwI'ghom (boarding party) comes from tIjwI' (boarder
- tIj <to board> + -wI' <one who does>) and ghom (group).
SUFFIXES
All nouns, wheter Simple, Compound or Complex, may be followed by one or
more suffixes. If there are two or more suffixes, they must occur in a specific
order. Suffixes may be calssified on the basis of their relative order after
the noun. There are five classes of suffixes, and for ease of demonstration
they will be referred to as Suffixes 1-5. They take on the following form of
order when used with a noun:
NOUN-1-2-3-4-5
In each case where a noun is followed by more that one suffix, each of the
suffixes must follow the noun in the same order as their class. That is, a moun
followed by a class 2, 3 and 5 suffix would have those suffixes arranged in
that order. In the case of a noun with only one suffix, class order has, of
course, no effect.
Of each of the five suffix types, there are at least two suffixes. No two
suffixes from the same type class may be used at the same time within the same
noun. Which is to say that a noun cannot be followed by two, three or four
class 3 suffixes.
The members of each suffix class are as follows:
*** Type 1 - Augmentative/Diminutive ***
-'a' augmentative. This suffix indicates that what the noun
refers to is bigger, more important, or more powerful than
it would be without the suffix
ex: Sus (wind/breeze) --> Sus'a' (strong wind)
Qagh (mistake) --> Qagh'a' (major blunder!)
woQ (power) --> woQ'a' (ultimate power)
-Hom diminutive. This is the opposite of the diminutive suffix.
it indicates that what the noun refers to is smaller, less
important, or less powerful than it would be without the
suffix.
ex: SuS (wind/breeze) --> SuSHom (wisp of air)
roj (peace) --> rojHom (short truce)
*** Type 2 - Number ***
-pu' This is a plural suffix for beings capable of using language
or possessing intelligence. It is not used for lower forms
of life, or any non-living item.
ex: yaS (officer) --> yaSpu' (officers)
-Du' This is plural for body parts of any living being regardless
of the height of development. In Klingonii/Klinzhaii dialect
this can refer to small devices, as well as the ambulatory
parts of manufacturing machines, androids and robotic units.
ex: tlhon (nostril) --> tlhonDu' (nostrils)
-mey This is a general usage plural suffix. This can be used on
any noun except those referring to body parts.
ex: yuQ (planet) --> yuQmey (planets)
It also should be noted that this rule is violated quite
frequently in Klingon prose in such words like tlhonmey
(nostrils scattered all over the place!). Still, the useage
of such suffixes outside of normal rules is not completely
understood, and it is strongly urged that all students of
Klingonaase stick to the rules until further understandings
are made availiable.
Suffixes are not the only way that nouns are made plural. In Klingonaase,
a noun without a suffix can be made plural by the use of a pronoun, whether a
verb prefix (see PART 5: VERBS) or a full word (see PART 6: OTHER WORDS). Since
the use of pronouns can become confusing, as certain pronouns have two or more
possible meanings. Luckily, it is never incorrect to add a plural suffix to a
noun referring to more than one entity, so long as the pronoun involved ,as
wel
as the object in question, are also plural.
Finally, there are certain nouns that are already plural in nature, and
therefore never require a suffix. Their singular counterparts are distinct from
the plurals as well:
SINGULAR PLURAL
DoS (target) ray' (targets)
peng (torpedo) cha (torpedoes)
vIj (thruster) chuyDaH (thrusters)
Inherently plural nouns are treated grammatically as singular nouns in
that singular pronouns are used to refer to them.
*** TYPE 3 - QUALIFICATION ***
Suffixes of this type indicate the speaker's attitude toward the noun, or
or how sure the speaker is that the noun is being used properly.
-qoq so-called. This suffix indicates that the noun is being used
in a false or ironic fashion.
-Hey apparant. This suffix indicates that the user is pretty sure
the object referred to by the noun is accurately described
by the noun, but has some doubts.
-na' definite. This is the counterpart of -Hey. It indicates that
there is no doubt in the speaker's mind as to the accuracy
of his/her choice of words.
