[tlhIngan Hol] pluralizing non-klingon words in a klingon text

Will Martin willmartin2 at mac.com
Mon Jul 20 11:01:27 PDT 2020


I think you are exactly as presumptive, assuming that Klingons would not add Klingon suffixes to foreign-language words as you are saying that Klingon speakers have been by doing so.

The simple truth is: In English, we don’t consistently use English suffixes on foreign words, but Klingon isn’t English. Until we see a canon example of it being done one way or another, we don’t know how it's done in Klingon.

Extending the analysis out to other human languages doesn’t work either. Klingon isn’t a human language.

So, you are right to point out that what has commonly been done here might be wrong, for all we know, but you are wrong to presume that you’ve logically concluded a greater truth. You haven’t.

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.

> On Jul 20, 2020, at 11:45 AM, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I just realized how ridiculous the choice is of pluralizing foreign words in a klingon passage, by adding to them klingon plural suffixes.
> 
> Suppose I want to write "luckily there are wolves".
> 
> If I write {Do' *wolf*mey tu'lu' je}, then this would be as ridiculous as writing in an english passage a greek word and pluralizing it by adding an english plural suffix.
> 
> I've never seen in a greek passage, foreign words being pluralized by greek suffixes. Noone does that, since doing so would be ridiculous.
> 
> Of course there are no Ca'Non rules about how to approach this in klingon, but personally, if I'd needed to throw in an english word in its' plural form, I'd prefer to do just that, instead of writing crap like *wolf*mey.
> 
> It would be as lame, as writing *wolf*οι, i.e. pluralizing the english "wolf" with one of the greek plural suffixes.
> 
> ~ Qa'yIn
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