Sounds and Spelling
Klingon Grammar 1
Course 1 · Chapter 2 · Sounds and Spelling
Chapter 1 said that Klingon spelling uses capital letters for extra sounds. This chapter takes the system apart. It uses the vocabulary of phonetics from Introduction to Linguistics 2 (place and manner of articulation, voicing, IPA symbols) and the ideas of syllables and allowed sequences from Introduction to Linguistics 3. The sounds were chosen by Marc Okrand to feel unfamiliar to English speakers, but every one of them occurs in some natural language.
The Consonants
Some Klingon consonants match English and need no explanation. Others are new. The table lists all of them, with an approximate English guide and the IPA symbol.
| Letter | Approximate sound | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| b, l, m, n, v, w, y | as in English | b, l, m, n, v, w, j | majQa', nuqneH |
| p, t | as English, with a puff of air | p, t | Qapla' |
| j | as English j in jam | d͡ʒ | majQa' |
| ch | as English ch in chair | t͡ʃ | |
| ng | as English ng in sing; it can start a word | ŋ | tlhIngan |
| r | a rolled or tapped r, as in Scots or Hungarian | r | |
| H | the rasping ch of Scots loch or German Bach | x | HIja', nuqneH |
| gh | the voiced version of H: a rasping sound like the French or Dutch throaty r | ɣ | ghobe' |
| D | like d but with the tongue tip curled back | ɖ | Dajatlh |
| S | like s or sh with the tongue tip curled back | ʂ | Qo'noS |
| q | a k made further back, at the uvula | q | nuqneH, qatlho' |
| Q | the uvular stop released with friction, like q followed by a rasp | q͡χ | Qapla' |
| tlh | a t and an l said in one breath, with air escaping at the sides of the tongue | t͡ɬ | tlhIngan |
| ' | a catch in the throat, as in the middle of uh-oh | ʔ | Qapla' |
Compared with English, the two big differences are the extra places of articulation (the uvular q and Q, the curled-back D and S) and the sideways tlh. Welsh has a similar sound in Llan-, and Nahuatl has one in its tl, so nothing here is impossible for a human mouth.
Letters That Are Really Two Characters
Four letters are written with two or three characters, but each stands for one sound and is one letter for alphabetical order: ch, gh, ng and tlh. The alphabetical order is:
The language has no letter g or h on its own, so gh, ng and tlh can never be misread as two separate letters.
The Vowels
There are five vowels, and each has one sound regardless of position. They are close to the vowels of Spanish, Japanese and Esperanto.
| Letter | Approximate sound | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | as in father | ɑ | Qapla', majQa' |
| e | as in bed | ɛ | ghobe' |
| I | as in sit | ɪ | HIja' |
| o | as in go (without the glide) | o | Hol |
| u | as in too | u | nuqneH |
A vowel followed by w or y at the end of a syllable is pronounced as a diphthong (a glide). The same letters before a vowel are ordinary consonants, as in the y of jIyajbe'. The vowel I is written with a capital so that it can't be mistaken for a lower-case l in sans-serif type, which is why lower-case i isn't used.
Syllables and Stress
The phonotactics of Klingon are strict: every syllable begins with a consonant, followed by a vowel, and then by one or more consonants at most. Words that look as if they begin with a vowel, in some romanisations, begin with a glottal stop. Syllables are therefore easy to find: break before each consonant that is followed by a vowel.
Stress in Klingon is predictable: it falls toward the end of the word's main part, so that suffixes added afterwards are not stressed (so the stress in qatlho' lands on the last syllable, -tlho'). You'll hear that Klingon sounds clipped and forceful. That impression comes from the consonants and the strict syllables, not from stress.
Pronunciation Drill
Say each word aloud, slowly, then at speed. Take care over the capitals and the apostrophes, and put a very short stop at every '.
Hands-On Exercises
Count the letters (not characters) in each word, treating ch, gh, ng and tlh as single letters: (a) nuqneH; (b) qatlho'; (c) ghobe'; (d) jIyajbe'; (e) Qo'noS.
📄 View solutionDivide each word into syllables: (a) tlhIngan; (b) qatlho'; (c) jIyajbe'; (d) Heghlu'meH. Check that every syllable starts with a consonant and contains one vowel.
📄 View solutionSort the consonants H, gh, q, Q, tlh, D, S, ng, ' into those that exist in standard English and those that don't. For each one that doesn't, name a language you know (or have met in the course) with a similar sound, using the comparison table in Introduction to Linguistics 2 where helpful.
📄 View solutionChapter 2 Quick Reference
- Consonants: b ch D gh H j l m n ng p q Q r S t tlh v w y and the glottal stop '
- Digraphs ch gh ng tlh are single letters
- Vowels: a e I o u; capital I is a vowel
- q ≠ Q; H is a rasp (like loch); gh is its voiced partner; D and S are curled back
- Syllable: starts with a consonant, then a vowel, then final consonants
- Suffixes after the root are not stressed