Editing Klingon language (section)

==Phonology==

{| class="wikitable floatright"
|-
! Latin transcription !! Klingon script !! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
|-
| a || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang a.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ɑ}}
|-
| b || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang b.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|b}}
|-
| ch || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang ch.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}
|-
| D || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang D.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ɖ}}
|-
| e || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang e.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ɛ}}
|-
| gh || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang gh.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ɣ}}
|-
| H || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang H.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|x}}
|-
| I || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang I.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ɪ}}
|-
| j || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang j.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
|-
| l || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang l.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|l}}
|-
| m || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang m.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|m}}
|-
| n || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang n.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
| ng || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang ng.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ŋ}}
|-
| o || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang o.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|o}}
|-
| p || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang p.svg|x32px]] || {{IPA|/{{IPAlink|p}}{{IPAlink|ʰ}}/}}
|-
| q || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang q.svg|x32px]] || {{IPA|/{{IPAlink|q}}{{IPAlink|ʰ}}/}}
|-
| Q || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang Q.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|q͡χ}}
|-
| r || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang r.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|r}}
|-
| S || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang S.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|ʂ}}
|-
| t || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang t.svg|x32px]] || {{IPA|/{{IPAlink|t}}{{IPAlink|ʰ}}/}}
|-
| tlh || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang tlh.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|t͡ɬ}}
|-
| u || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang u.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|u}}
|-
| v || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang v.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|v}}
|-
| w || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang w.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|w}}
|-
| y || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang y.svg|x32px]] || {{IPAslink|j}}
|-
| ʼ || style="background-color: white !important;" | [[File:KlingonLang '.svg|x20px]] || {{IPAslink|ʔ}}
|}

Klingon has been developed with a [[phonology]] that, while based on human [[natural language]]s, is intended to sound [[Alien language|alien]] to human ears. When initially developed, Paramount Pictures (owners of the ''Star Trek'' [[media franchise|franchise]]) wanted the Klingon language to be guttural and harsh and Okrand wanted it to be unusual, so he selected [[articulatory phonetics|sounds]] that combined in ways not generally found in other languages. The effect is mainly achieved by the use of a number of [[retroflex consonant|retroflex]] and [[uvular consonant|uvular]] consonants in the language's inventory.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Did-eVQDc&t=5m46s | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/e5Did-eVQDc| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Marc Okrand on Klingon | website=[[YouTube]]|date=May 2, 2012 |access-date=November 23, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Klingon has twenty-one consonants and five vowels. Klingon is normally written in a variant of the [[Latin alphabet]]. The orthography of this [[transliteration]] is [[case-sensitive]], that is, [[Capital letter|upper]] and [[lower case]] letters are not interchangeable (uppercase letters mostly represent sounds different from those expected by English speakers), although with the exception of Q/q there are no [[minimal pair]]s between case. In other words, while {{mono|hol}} is incorrect Klingon, it cannot be misread as anything but an erroneous form of {{mono|Hol}} (which means ''language''); on the other hand, {{mono|Qat}} and {{mono|qat}} are two different words, the first meaning ''be popular'' and the second meaning ''accompany''. In the discussion below, standard Klingon orthography appears in ''{{angle bracket|angle brackets}}'', and the [[phoneme|phonemic transcription]] in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] is written between ''/slashes/''.

===Consonants===
The inventory of consonants in Klingon is spread over a number of [[place of articulation|places of articulation]]. In spite of this, the inventory has many gaps: Klingon has no [[velar consonant|velar plosives]], and only one [[sibilant consonant|sibilant fricative]]; common consonants absent in Klingon include {{IPA|/k ɡ f h s z ʃ/}}. Deliberately, this arrangement is very different from that of most human languages. The combination of an aspirated [[voiceless alveolar plosive]] {{IPA|/tʰ/}} and a [[voiced retroflex plosive]] {{IPA|/ɖ/}} is particularly unusual.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan=2 | 
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! {{small|[[Central consonant|central]]}}
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|-
! rowspan=2| [[stop consonant|Plosive]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{mono |p}} {{IPAslink|p|pʰ}}
| {{mono |t}} {{IPAslink|t|tʰ}}
| 
| {{mono |q}} {{IPAslink|q|qʰ}}
| <span style="text-decoration: none">{{mono |ʼ}} {{IPAslink|ʔ}}</span>
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{mono |b}} {{IPAslink|b}}
| {{mono |D}} {{IPAslink|ɖ|ɖ&thinsp;}}
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| || {{mono|ch}} {{IPAslink|t͡ʃ}}||{{mono |tlh}} {{IPAslink|t͡ɬ}} || {{mono |Q}} {{IPAslink|q͡χ}} ||
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| 
| {{mono|j}} {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}}
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| 
| {{mono |S}} {{IPAslink|ʂ}}
| 
| {{mono |H}} {{IPAslink|x}}
| 
|-
! {{small|[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{mono |v}} {{IPAslink|v}}
| 
| 
| {{mono|gh}} {{IPAslink|ɣ}}
| 
|-
! colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{mono |m}} {{IPAslink|m}}
| {{mono |n}} {{IPAslink|n}}
| 
| {{mono |ng}} {{IPAslink|ŋ}}
| 
|-
! colspan=2| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| 
| rowspan="2" |{{mono |r}} {{IPAslink|r}}
| 
|
| 
|-
! colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| {{mono |w}} {{IPAslink|w}}
| {{mono |l}} {{IPAslink|l}}
| {{mono|y}} {{IPAslink|j}}
| 
|}

There are a few dialectal pronunciation differences<ref name="GalacticTraveller">{{cite book |last=Okrand |first=Marc |title=Klingon for the Galactic Traveller |year=1997 |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0671009953 |pages=18–24}}</ref> (it is not known if the aforementioned non-canon ''Kumburan'' or ''Rumaiy'' dialects of ''{{mono |tlhIngan Hol}}'' hinted at in the novelization of ''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock]]'' might differ):

* In the Krotmag dialect {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/ɖ/}} are realized as nasal stops {{IPAblink|m}} and {{IPAblink|ɳ}}
* In the Tak'ev dialect {{IPA|/b/}} and {{IPA|/ɖ/}} are pre-nasalized oral stops {{IPA|[mb]}} and {{IPA|[ɳɖ]}}
In the Morskan dialect:
*{{IPAslink|t͡ɬ}} is a central affricate {{IPAblink|t͡s}}
*{{IPA|/x/}} is realized as glottal {{IPAblink|h}} syllable-initially and deleted syllable-finally
*{{IPAslink|q͡χ}} is realized as a velar fricative {{IPAblink|x}}

===Vowels===
In contrast to its consonants, Klingon's inventory of vowels is simple, and similar to those of many human languages, such as [[Spanish language|Spanish]] or [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. There are five vowels spaced more or less evenly around the vowel space, with two back rounded vowels, one back unrounded vowel, and two front or near-front unrounded vowels. The vowel inventory is asymmetrical in that the back rounded vowels are tense and the front vowels are lax.

The two front vowels, {{angle bracket|{{mono |e}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{mono |I}}}}, represent sounds that are found in [[English language|English]], but are more open and lax than a typical English speaker might assume when reading Klingon text written in the Latin alphabet, thus causing the consonants of a word to be more prominent. This enhances the sense that Klingon is a clipped and harsh-sounding language.

; [[Vowel]]s
:{{angle bracket|{{mono |a}}}}{{spaced ndash}}{{IPAslink|ɑ}}{{spaced ndash}}[[open back unrounded vowel]] (in English ''sp'''a''''')
:{{angle bracket|{{mono |e}}}}{{spaced ndash}}{{IPAslink|ɛ}}{{spaced ndash}}[[open-mid front unrounded vowel]] (in English ''b'''e'''d'')
:{{angle bracket|{{mono |I}}}}{{spaced ndash}}{{IPAslink|ɪ}}{{spaced ndash}}[[near-close near-front unrounded vowel]] (in English ''b'''i'''t'')
:{{angle bracket|{{mono |o}}}}{{spaced ndash}}{{IPAslink|o}}{{spaced ndash}}[[close-mid back rounded vowel]] (in [[French language|French]] ''eau'' and English ''c'''o'''ld'')
:{{angle bracket|{{mono |u}}}}{{spaced ndash}}{{IPAslink|u}}{{spaced ndash}}[[close back rounded vowel]] (in Spanish ''tu'' and English ''y'''ou''''')

[[Diphthong]]s can be analyzed phonetically as the combination of the five vowels plus one of the two [[semivowel]]s {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/j/}} (represented by {{angle bracket|{{mono |w}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{mono |y}}}}, respectively). Thus, the combinations {{angle bracket|{{mono |ay}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |ey}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |Iy}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |oy}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |uy}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |aw}}}}, {{angle bracket|{{mono |ew}}}} and {{angle bracket|{{mono |Iw}}}} are possible. There are no words in the Klingon language that contain *{{angle bracket|{{mono |ow}}}} or *{{angle bracket|{{mono |uw}}}}.

===Syllable structure===
Klingon follows a strict [[syllable]] structure. A syllable must start with a consonant (including the glottal stop) followed by one vowel. In prefixes and rare other syllables, this is enough. More commonly, this consonant-vowel pair is followed by one consonant or one of three biconsonantal [[coda (linguistics)|codas]]: /-'''''{{mono |wʼ}}'''&nbsp;-'''{{mono |yʼ}}'''&nbsp;-'''{{mono |rgh}}'''''/. Thus, ''{{mono |ta}}'' "record", ''{{mono |tar}}'' "poison" and ''{{mono |targh}}'' "targ" (a type of animal) are all legal syllable forms, but *''{{mono |tarD}}'' and *''{{mono |ar}}'' are not. Despite this, one suffix takes the shape vowel+consonant: the endearment suffix {{mono |-'''''oy'''''}}.

===Stress===
In [[verb]]s, the stressed syllable is usually the verbal stem itself, as opposed to a prefix or any suffixes, except when a suffix ending with {{mono |{{angle bracket|ʼ}}}} is separated from the verb by at least one other suffix, in which case the suffix ending in {{mono |{{angle bracket|ʼ}}}} is also stressed. In addition, stress may shift to a suffix that is meant to be emphasized.

In [[noun]]s, the final syllable of the stem (the noun itself, excluding any affixes) is stressed. If any syllables ending in {{mono |{{angle bracket|ʼ}}}} are present, the stress shifts to those syllables.

The stress in other words seems to be variable, but this is not a serious issue because most of these words are only one syllable in length. There are some words which should fall under the rules above, but do not, although using the standard rules would still be acceptable.