pI­qaD, And How to Read It

Contents

1. Preface
2. The Klingon Alphabet (pI­qaD)
3. Pronunciation
4. Stress
5. Numerals
6. Dialects
7. References

Preface

Throughout this document a text on a green background is used to mark a quote from Okrandian Canon…

…while a red background is used to indicate that the text is a quote from some other material.

This is the beginning of an investigation into the Klingon alphabet and its typographical and phonological nuances. Since there does not really exist any canon Klingon alphabet (Okrand speaks about pI­qaD but he never makes use of it.) I have adopted the KLI approved alphabet, used by most klingonists. Paramount themselves use a typeface constructed by the Astra Image Corporation which contains only ten glyphs, but since this is the Klingon alphabet we see in the movies and in Star Trek: The Next Generation, I intend to do a comparison between the two, and hopefully be able to create a typeface which looks more like the pI­qaD we see on the silver screen.

I also intend to do a survey of the different styles of usage of pI­qaD among klingonists (mainly on the Internet, but other contributions are also welcome if you have any) to see how much one can actually play around with the glyphs and still be able read them.

There are also some images created by Nick Nicholas (one of the people behind the restored version of the Klingon Ham­let) that are quite interesting, as they show what seem to be pI­qaD written with a ballpoint pen, a calligraphy pen (in a Fraktur hand – perhaps used in the first printed books on Kronos?), and with a brush. (These images were originally found on KLI’s FTP area in February 2000, but that FTP seems to have gone defunct in intervening years.)

Worth mentioning is also the article “Writing Klingon: The Easy Way” by Theron P. Elliot, (published in Hol­QeD 2:2 pp.10–11) in which he uses a triangular grid as a basis for writing pI­qaD. It is interesting mostly because is also shows the direction of the pen while writing, but otherwise I do not think that the grid makes the Klingon glyphs justice.

Interstellar Language School (lead by Glen F. Proechel) has published “An Alien Writing System Primer” explaining how to write pI­qaD in longhand. (It is non-canon, of course – and to my knowledge not endorsed by the KLI.)

Many thanks to Nick Nicholas for his constructive criticism and helpful suggestions.

The Klingon Alphabet (pI­qaD)

There also exist a “canon” set of Klingon punctuation marks, used on the SkyBox trading cards in their “pI­qaD” text. Though the use is somewhat inconsistent on these cards I would like to concur with Nick Nicholas interpretation that the upturned triangle function as a full stop (period) and the downturned triangle as a comma / semicolon. These are also the only punctuation marks that the Klingon language really requires, since both questions and imperatives are clearly marked grammatically.

Pronunciation

The following tables are an overview of the sounds of Klingon, written in IPA. A more complete description of each of the sounds is given in the text below.

Where characters appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.

	Bilabial		Labio­dental		Alveolar		Post­alveolar		Retro­flex		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Plosive	pʰ	b			tʰ					ɖ					qʰ		ʔ
Nasal		m				n								ŋ
Trill						r
Fricative				v					ʂ				x	ɣ
Affricate					t͡ɬ		t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ							q͡χ
Approximant												j
Lateral Approximant						l

Parentheses indicate non-standard pronunciation.

	Front	Near-​front	Central	Near-​back	Back
Close	• • •u •ɪ • • •o •ɛ • •(ʌ) • • •ɑ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Doubled Consonants

Though frowned upon by older Klingons it is not all that uncommon that doubled consonants are pronounced as only one letter by younger Klingons. The word qet­taH He/she keeps on running, can be pronounced, either (1) with two separately articulated ts in the middle, or (2) with one t held for an extra moment to indicate the doubling, or finally (3) as if it was written with just a single t. [Display Sources]

[…] younger speakers tend to pronounce doubled consonants as if they were single, while older speakers pretty much maintain the distinction between single and doubled consonants. For example, in the word qet­taH (“He/she keeps on running”; qet, “run, jog,” plus -taH, “continuous”), an older Klingon would either pronounce each t distinctly, releasing the first one with a puff of air before articulating the second, or else he or she would hold the t just a bit before releasing it, so that the time taken up would be about the same as if each t were articulated separately. A younger speaker, on the other hand, may pronounce the word as if it were qe­taH, though with the stress remaining on the first syllable as it is in qet­taH. Similarly, an older speaker would probably maintain the mm in bom­mey (“songs”; bom, “song,” plus -mey, plural indicator) by either pronouncing each m distinctly or, more likely in this case, prolonging the m; some younger speakers (though a smaller number than in the case of tt) might say bo­mey, again with stress remaining on the first syllable. Only in the case of ’’ (as in pa’­’a’ [“big room”]: pa’, “room,” plus -’a’, an augmentative) is there a tendency in both groups to reduce the ’’ to a single ’, though ’’ (a somewhat prolonged gap between the preceding and following a) is hardly unknown or archaic-sounding. The reduction of doubled consonants to single follows a clear pattern. Those most likely to be reduced are pp, tt, [qq], and, as noted above, ’’; least likely to be reduced are ll, mm, nn, ngng, vv, ww, and yy. [KGT p.138–139]

Alphabet

a [ɑ] Open back unrounded vowel (called ’at when spelling) – As in General American or BBC English spa [spɑː], as in some dialects of German Tag [tʰɑːk] (meaning day), or as in Swedish jаg [jɑːɡ] (meaning I). [Display Sources]

b [b] Voiced bilabial stop (called bay when spelling) – This sound is quite common in Terran languages. It is pronounced as in English aback [əˈbæk], as in German Bub [buːp] (meaning boy) or as in Swedish bra [ˈbrɑː] (good). [Display Sources]

b As in English bronchitis or gazebo. [TKD 1.1]

ch [t͡ʃ] Voiceless postalveolar affricate (called chay when spelling) – This sound pronounced as in English bleach [bliːt͡ʃ], as in German Tschinelle [t͡ʃiˈnɛlə] (meaning cymbal), or as in Fenno-Swedish tjugo [t͡ʃʉ:gʉ] (twenty). [Display Sources]

ch As in English chew or artichoke. [TKD 1.1]

D [ɖ] Voiced retroflex stop (called Day when spelling) – In English, this sound only occur in some dialects, such as in Indian English dine [ɖaɪn] (to eat). The sound is similar to d in dream or android, but the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth further back, at the back of the alveolar ridge (this part of the alveolar ridge is covered with small ridges). As far as I know, this sound does not occur in German.

The D sound exist in most Swedish central and northern dialects. This is how the letters rd are pronounced when they occur together, e.g. in the word nord [nuːɖ] (meaning north). What is actually going on here, phonetically, is that the r causes retroflexation of the following consonant when it comes before a dental consonant. [Display Sources]

e [ɛ] Open-mid front unrounded vowel (called ’et when spelling) – As in General American or BBC English bed [bɛd], as in German Bett [bɛt] (meaning bed), or as in Swedish en [ɛn] (one). [Display Sources]

gh [ɣ] Voiced velar fricative (called ghay when spelling) – This sound is not like anything in English, German or Swedish. It is produced with the tongue in the same position as for g – as in English gaggle [ˈɡæɡɫ̩], German Lüge [ˈlyːɡə] (meaning lie) or Swedish gång [ɡɔŋː] (path) – but relaxing somewhat and humming. It is a voiced version of the Klingon H sound.

The guttural r [ʁ] of French and southern Swedish dialects is pronounced a bit farther back than the Klingon gh, but is otherwise the identical. (Using a this r instead of the proper gh is not likely to cause confusion, but if doing so one should be aware that one will be speaking with a bit of a Terran accent). [Display Sources]

H [x] Voiceless velar fricative (called Hay when spelling) – This sound is not common in English but can be heard in some pronunciations of the American exclamation of disgust yech [jɛx]. It also occur in Scottish loch [lɔx], and in German Kuchen [kuːxən] (meaning cake). It is a voiceless version of the Klingon gh. [Display Sources]

I [ɪ] Near-close near-front unrounded vowel (called ’It when spelling) – As in English bit [bɪt], as in German bitte [ˈbɪtə] (meaning please), or as in Swedish sill [sɪl] (herring). [Display Sources]

j [d͡ʒ] Voiced postalveolar affricate (called jay when spelling) – As in English jump [ˈd͡ʒʌmp] or German Dschungel [d͡ʒʊŋəl] (meaning jungle), and similar to dj in Swedish glädje (meaning joy) or kedja (chain). This sound is always pronounced with a hard initial d, and never softly as in French jour (day) or as Swedish jord (earth). [Display Sources]

j As in English junk; never ever as in French jour. [TKD 1.1]

l [l] Alveolar lateral approximant (called lay when spelling) – As in English let [lɛt], German Liebe [liːbə] (meaning love) or Swedish lång [lɔŋ] (long). [Display Sources]

l As in English lunge or alchemy. [TKD 1.1]

m [m] Bilabial nasal (called may when spelling) – As in English him [hɪm], German rühmen [ˈʁyːmən] (meaning to praise) or Swedish mask [mask] (worm). [Display Sources]

m As in English mud or pneumatic. [TKD 1.1]

n [n] Alveolar nasal (called nay when spelling) – As in English nice [naɪs], German Lanze [ˈlant͡sə] (meaning lance), or Swedish nord [nuːɖ] (north). [Display Sources]

n As in English nectarine or sunspot. [TKD 1.1]

ng [ŋ] Velar nasal (called ngay when spelling) – The letters ng are never pronounced separately, but always as in English sing [sɪŋ], German lang [laŋ] (meaning long), or Swedish ingenting [ɪŋːɛntʰɪŋ] (nothing). In the most Terran languages this sound never come at the beginning of a word, but this happen in a number of Klingon words (e.g. ngan inhabitant). [Display Sources]

o [o] Close-mid back rounded vowel (called ’ot when spelling) – As English go [goː], in German oder [ˈoːdɐ] (meaning or), or as in Swedish åka [ˈoːka] (travel). Note: There are no words ending in *ow (as that is considered indistinguishable from o). [Display Sources]

p [pʰ] Aspirated voiceless bilabial stop (called pay when spelling) – As in English pack [pʰæk], German Pack [pʰak] (meaning pile), or Swedish apa [ˈɑːpʰa] (monkey). In Klingon, this sound is always aspirated, that is, released with a strong burst of air. [Display Sources]

p As in English parallax or opprobrium. It is always articulated with a strong puff or pop, never laxly. Speakers of English may want to exercise care to avoid discharging saliva while articulating this sound. It should be noted, however, that Klingons do not worry about this. [TKD 1.1]

q [qʰ] Aspirated voiceless uvular stop (called qay when spelling) – This sound is similar to the k sound of English, German and Swedish but the tongue reaches further back so that it touches the uvula (the fleshy blob that dangles down from the back of the roof of the mouth). In Klingon, this sound is always aspirated, that is, released with a strong burst of air. Notice that this is never pronounced kw as in English quagmire. [Display Sources]

Q [q͡χ] Voiceless uvular affricate (called Qay when spelling) – It is pronounced in the same way as q, except that it is held longer while air is forced out. It is very guttural and raspy, somewhat like a blend of Klingon q and H. This sound is quite uncommon in Terran languages. [Display Sources]

r [r] Alveolar trill (called ray when spelling) – As in Scottish curd [kʌrd], German (in some dialects) Schmarrn [ʃmaːrn] (meaning nonsense), or Swedish rov [ruːv] (prey). This sounds differs from the r of American English, in that it is slightly trilled or rolled.

Or – r [ɹ] Alveolar approximant – Many Americans (among them Marc Okrand, the inventor of the Klingon language) are unable to roll their tongue to produce the trill of r, and therefore the flat r sound of American English is a often heard instead. It should be noted, however, that this pronunciation is a clear indicator of a Terran accent. [Display Sources]

r This is not like the r in American English, but it does resemble the r in some dialects of British English, as well as the r in many languages of Europe. It is slightly trilled or rolled. [TKD 1.1]

S [ʂ] Voiceless retroflex sibilant (called Say when spelling) – As in the Swedish word fors [fɔʂ] (meaning rapids). This sound is halfway between English s (as in syringe) and sh (as in shuttlecock). It is pronounced with the tongue in the same position as for Klingon D. [Display Sources]

t [tʰ] Aspirated voiceless alveolar stop (called tay when spelling) – As in English tick [tʰɪk], as in German Tochter [ˈtʰɔxtɐ] (meaning daughter), or as in Swedish tok [tʰuːk] (fool). In Klingon, this sound is always aspirated, that is, released with a strong burst of air. [Display Sources]

t As in English tarpaulin or critique. It differs from Klingon D in two ways: (1) like p, it is accompanied by a puff of air; and (2) the tongue touches a position on the roof of the mouth father forward than that for D. [TKD 1.1]

tlh [t͡ɬ] Voiceless alveolar lateral affricate (called tlhay when spelling) – This sound does not occur in many Terran languages, but is common in Nahuatl (the Aztec language). It even occurs in the name of the language Náhuatl [ˈnaːwat͡ɬ].

One way to get the pronunciation right is to start off by saying l. As you do it, pay attention to two things: (1) Your vocal cords are vibrating (if you put your hand on your throat you can feel the vibrations quite clearly), and (2) the tip of the tongue is firmly fixed to the roof of the mouth, with the air passing by on both sides of the tongue.

Now, say l again, but this time without the humming of the vocal cords (whisper!). You should no longer feel any vibrations in the hand on your throat. (The sound you’re now pronouncing in written [ɬ] in IPA.)

Now, say the sound yet again, but this time, spit it out! Build up a little bit of pressure behind the tongue, then push out the air on both sides of it. As before, there should be no humming from your vocal cords, and the tip of the tongue should never leave the roof of your mouth. This is the Klingon tlh sound.

Alternatively, you can think of it as pronouncing a t in a weird way: Instead of lowering the tip of your tongue to let the air pass, keep the tip of the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, and lower the sides of the tongue. [Display Sources]

u [u] Close back rounded vowel (called ’ut when spelling) – As in General American or BBC English boot [buːt], or as in German Fuß [fuːs] (meaning foot). Note: There are no words ending in *uw (as that is considered indistinguishable from u). [Display Sources]

v [v] Voiced labiodental fricative (called vay when spelling) – As in English valve [væɫv], German Wächter [ˈvɛçtɐ] (meaning guard) or Swedish vägg [ˈvɛɡ] (wall). [Display Sources]

v As in English vulgar or demonstrative. [TKD 1.1]

w [w] Labio-velar approximant (called way when spelling) – As in English weep [wiːp]. [Display Sources]

w Usually as in English worrywart or cow. On rare occasions, especially if the speaker is being rather deliberate, it is pronounced strongly, more like Hw or even Huw. [TKD 1.1]

y [j] Palatal approximant (called yay when spelling) – As in English you [juː], German Joch [jɔx] (meaning yoke), or Swedish jag [jɑːɡ] (meaning I).

Note: Making a clear distinction between y and j sounds are important, not least because of the yI- (you–him/her/it (imperative)) and jI- (I) prefixes. [Display Sources]

y As in English yodel or joy. [TKD 1.1]

’ [ʔ] Glottal stop (called qagh­wI’ or just ’ when spelling) – This sound exist in spoken English but is not written – it is the slight catch in the throat between the two syllables of uh-oh or unh-unh, meaning “no.” In some English dialects the letter t is pronounced this way (e.g. Cockney bottle [ˈbɔʔo]). In BBC English the letter t is pronounced this way before n, e.g. in button [bʌʔn̩] (in speech with careful enunciation, however, a proper t sound is often heard instead).

The Swedish term for this sound is glottal klusil (or laryngal klusil) and the sound is, as in English, commonly used, but not written. It is cessation of sound in the middle of öh-oh [œʔœ͜uː] (meaning oops!), or at end of some pronunciations of the word meh [meʔ] (used to express indifference or boredom).

In German this sound is known as Knacklaut and it precedes any word or syllable that begins with a vowel. It has been suggested to me that the difference in pronunciation between alkoholarmm (meaning low in alcohol content) and alkoholarm (made-up word, meaning warning about the destructive effects of alcohol) would be the addition of a glottal stop in the middle.

In Klingon, when ’ comes at the end of a word, the preceding sound is abruptly cut off, and then repeated (after the glottal stop) in a soft whisper. If you articulate the word paw (arrive) and paw’ (collide) there should be a clear and distinct sense of abrupt discontinuation in the latter. [Display Sources]

Stress

The instructions for stress given here are equivalent to those given in TKD, (in that stress will wind up in the same places), however, here they have been simplified quite a bit to ease look-up and memorization.

Stress is not normally indicated when writing Klingon, and the only piece of Klingon canon where stress is shown is the pronunciation key of the sentences in the TKD “cheat sheet” [TKD pp. 171–172]. In that pronunciation respelling HI­jol (Beam me aboard) is written “khi-JOL”. [Display Sources]

Verbs

Adjectival verbs are stressed as verbs.

• If a speaker emphasizes one or more suffixes, then those suffixes are stressed, and all other syllables are unstressed. (Commonly emphasized suffixes are: -’a’, -be’, -Qo’, -Ha’ and -qu’.)
• Otherwise, the last syllable of the stem is stressed, the first suffix is unstressed, and, after that, all suffixes ending in glottal stop are stressed.

[Display Sources]

Nouns

Nominalized verbs (nouns created using suffixes -wI’ and -ghach) are stressed as nouns.

• If there are syllables ending in glottal stop, those are stressed (and stressed equally).
• Otherwise, the last syllable of the stem is stressed (in compound nouns, only the last syllable of the last stem is stressed).

[Display Sources]

The Rest

Everything we know about stress in chuv­mey comes from the few examples of exclamations that occur in the TKD “cheat sheet”, and all of these have their final syllable stressed.

• Final syllable is stressed.

[Display Sources]

Numerals

Value	Pronunciation	pI­qaD		Name
				zero, none
				one
				two
				three
				four
				five
				six
				seven
				eight
				nine

[Display Sources]

Dialects

We have known that there are more than one Klingon dialect ever since TKD (which hinted at this in the description of the sounds b, n and m in “The Sounds of Klingon”) but most of the information we have today we got with KGT (which described the below listed dialects, as well as some other variations in speech related to the speaker’s age, and social class). [Display Sources]

The Tak’ev Dialect

Dialect spoken in the Tak’ev (taq­’ev) region. It is one of the larger minority dialects and has a much greater number of speakers that the Krotmag dialect. It sounds like blend of Krotmag an Standard Klingon, and is the one dialect (that we know of) which most closely resembles Standard Klingon. It is only briefly described in canon.

• Nasal vowels
• Pronounces b as mb
• Pronounces D as ND

[Display Sources]

Speaking in a manner that is sort of between that of the Krotmag region and ta’ Hol are the peoples of Tak’ev (taq­’ev), who, though still a minority population, greatly outnumber the residents of Krotmag. These people maintain the distinction between b and m but pronounce the b as if it were mb; that is, starting off as the m sound but ending up at a b. Similarly, D is pronounced more like nD (or, more accurately, ND). Thus ba’ (“sit”) would be pronounced more like m­ba’; Hub (“defend”) would sound like Humb; Du’ (“farm”) would be N­Du’; HoD (“captain”) would be HoND; and Dub (“improve”) would be N­Dumb. The nasal vowel quality found in the Krotmag region is characteristic of Tak’ev speech as well. [KGT p. 22]

The Krotmag Dialect

Dialect spoken in the Krotmag (Qot­magh) region. This dialect has fewer speakers than the Tak’ev dialect, but is well known and easily recognized by other Klingons. Some of the dialects peculiarities have even influenced Standard Klingon.

• Nasal vowels
• Pronounces b as m (as in English mime)
• Pronounces D as N
• Often uses extra words in noun phrases, originally to differentiate between words with b and m (e.g. ’uS qam leg foot, nach qam head face), but now prevalent even when no disambiguation is needed (e.g. NeS ghop arm hand, nach ghIch head nose, qorNu’ tuq family house and even yan ’etlh or ’etlh yan sword sword)
• Often adds short extra sentences to disambiguate between verbs with b and m (e.g. mI­moH. yI­jot­choH. You’re impatient. Calm down!, mI­moH. ’oy’ mInNu’­wIj. You’re ugly. My eyes ache.)

[Display Sources]

The Morskan Dialect

Dialect spoken on the conquered Klingon world Morska. We’re treated to brief bout of the Morskan dialect of Klingon in ST6 when Enterprise encounters a Klingon listening post. (The Klingon spelling of the word “Morska” is unknown – the only canon occurrence is in spoken form, in the Morskan dialect, by that guard in ST6).

The Morskan dialect is characterized by the following speech patterns.

• Pronounces tlh as ghl at the beginning of syllables, and as ts (as in English cats) at the end
• Pronounces H as h (as in English hat) at beginning of syllables, and not pronounced at all at end
• Pronounces Q as Standard Klingon H
• Usually drops -’e’ from the final noun in “to be” phrases (except when the subject of such phrases are emphasised)

[Display Sources]

References

• Elliot, Theron P. “Writing Klingon: The Easy Way.” In Hol­QeD, Volume 2, Number 2 (June 1993). Lake Forest: Klingon Language Institute.
• Okrand, Marc. 1992. The Klingon Dictionary. New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Inc.
• Okrand, Marc. 1992. Conversational Klingon. Audio cassette. New York: Simon & Schuster Audioworks.
• Okrand, Marc, and Levine, Barry. 1993. Power Klingon. Audio cassette. New York: Simon & Schuster Audioworks.
• Okrand, Marc. 1997. Klingon for the Galactic Traveler. New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Inc.
• Pullum, Geoffrey K., and Ladusaw, William A. 1986. Phonetic Symbol Guide. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Schoen, Lawrence M. “Some Comments on Orthography” In Hol­QeD, Volume 1, Number 1 (March 1992). Lake Forest: Klingon Language Institute.
• Schoen, Lawrence M. “Numerals” In Hol­QeD, Volume 1, Number 4 (December 1992). Lake Forest: Klingon Language Institute.
• Wechsler, Allan C. “First Steps Towards a Phonological Theory of Klingon.” In Hol­QeD, Volume 1, Number 1 (March 1992). Lake Forest: Klingon Language Institute.
• Wells, Teresa Lynn. 1996. A Survey of the Artificial Language tlhI­ngan Hol: From Creation to Creativity. A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts at Arizona State University. Unpublished.