[tlhIngan Hol] xifan hol: k and q

[kechpaja]

On Sat, Jun 02, 2018 at 03:24:51PM -0400, SuStel wrote:
> On 6/2/2018 3:08 PM, nIqolay Q wrote:
> > boQwI' gives you an option of using k -> {q} or {Q}, is that something 
> > feasible on your end?
> >
> > I prefer to use boQwI' with k -> {Q}, since I can just use q for {q}. 
> > But I have noticed that some fonts use k for {q} and q for {Q} (or, 
> > technically, they use K for {q} and Q for {Q}, since the fonts map 
> > pIqaD to capital letters). I think I might be in the minority on this 
> > one.
> 
> I prefer /k/ -> *q*. In transliteration, /k/ that isn't part of a 
> cluster nearly always ends up as *q,* while /kr/ tends to be the 
> transliteration of *Q. *Since native English speakers consider /k/ 
> simpler than consonant clusters of /k,/ and since /k /is more common 
> than /q,/ and /q /is odd to an English speaker with a following /u,/ I 
> think /k/ is more suitable for *q.* It's just a bias for an arbitrary 
> choice though, not a logical argument for it.

I lean strongly towards /q/ -> <q>, /Q/ -> <k>, due to my exposure to
Swiss German (in which written* <k> often corresponds to /Q/) and Arabic
(which is usually transliterated using <q> for an unaspirated uvular
stop very similar to the Klingon /q/). 

*Swiss German has no formal orthography, and is generally written using
a combination of German-based phonetic spelling and the traditional
spellings of the Standard German equivalents of Swiss German words.
Since Swiss German /Q/ usually corresponds to Standard German /k/, that
means that <k> often ends up respresenting /Q/. 

> 
> 
> > (Obviously, we should ask Okrand to make a ruling one way or another, 
> > just to sort it out.)
> 
> A ruling on what? Okrand isn't in charge of keyboard mappings or 
> anything like that; he isn't even in charge of what Klingon LOOKS like. 
> All he knows is what Maltz tells him, and Maltz will just say Klingon 
> computers already have *pIqaD* on them, so there's no mapping issue.

Agreed. The xifan hol system is very clearly a Terran invention, and 
Mar{rc/tlz} has jurisdiction only over material that originates on
Qo'noS. 

 - SapIr