[tlhIngan Hol] Sound of o

[SuStel]

On 6/27/2020 10:48 AM, Will Martin wrote:
> It’s odd that he would give a description in TKD that would accurately 
> apply to syllables ending with {o} and not to the far more common case 
> of {o} between two consonants.

It wouldn't be odd if Okrand were explaining why *ow* doesn't appear at 
the end of a word instead of explaining *o* as a diphthong.

See the original text:

    Note that when a vowel is followed by *w* or *y,* the combination of
    letters may not represent the same sound it does in English spelling:

    [chart: *aw, ay, ey, Iy, oy*]

    Klingon *uy* resembles /ooey/ in English /gooey./ Klingon *ew*
    resembles nothing in English, but can be approximated by running
    Klingon *e* and *u* together. Likewise, Klingon *Iw* is *I* and *u*
    run together. No words in Klingon have *ow* or *uw.* If they did,
    they would be indistinguishable from words ending in *o* and *u,*
    respectively.

You see the point here is not so much the character of Klingon vowels as 
it is how to read various combinations you'll find in the book. It 
doesn't say Klingon *o* sounds like Klingon *ow;* it says Klingon words 
don't end with *ow* because it would sound like the word ends in *o.* 
This tells me that Klingon words that end in *o* end in a diphthong.

Interestingly, of all the listed diphthongs, only *aw, ay, ey, **oy,* 
and *uy* allow a glottal stop after them: *aw', ay', ey', oy', uy'.* The 
combinations *ew', Iw', *and*Iy'* do not occur in any word even though 
there is no rule against it.


> Did he really give us that description ONLY for the syllable {gho-} 
> and not give us a description for every other use in the language? REALLY?

Did I say that? Only the syllable *gho?* I didn't say that.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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