[tlhIngan Hol] Glue words, adjectives, "active" speech ..and the future

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Mon Jun 22 08:55:44 PDT 2020


On 6/22/2020 11:35 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> SuStel:
>> The grammar of Klingon is quite simplified compared to English
> Indeed, but isn't this the genius of klingon ?

Eh... I don't know if this was genius instead of mere simplicity. It was 
a language written to be a coffee-table novelty and to produce a few 
lines of verisimilitudinous language for a movie. I don't think what you 
perceive of as elegance was really meant to be. It happens to appeal to 
your tastes — and mine. But I don't think Okrand actually imagined he 
was inventing something of exquisite aesthetics. If anything, I think he 
was thought he was doing the opposite, and the joke was that Klingons 
were so alien their aesthetic sensibilities were just unfathomable.

I think Okrand's subsequent translations show that he DOES value simpler 
sentences with fewer "glue words," but I don't think this design feature 
was driven by his desire for elegance in the language.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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