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Linguist Marc Okrand expanded the Klingon dialogue created for Star Trek into a usable language. His 1985 Klingon Dictionary described its vocabulary and grammar. The individual sounds occur in human languages; their unusual combination helps Klingon sound alien while remaining pronounceable by actors.

Marc Okrand, The Klingon Dictionary (1985)

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The story behind the card

The first Klingon words were devised by the actor James Doohan, Star Trek's Scotty, for 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' (1979). For 'Star Trek III' (1984) the producers asked Okrand to build a real language from them. He made its most common word order object-verb-subject, close to the reverse of English, and used sounds that are rare in European languages, such as consonants made with the tip of the tongue curled back, or far back in the mouth near the uvula. Few people speak it well: the writer Arika Okrent guessed in 2009 that there were 20 to 30 fluent speakers. Fans still perform in it, and in 2010 the Washington Shakespeare Company staged scenes from Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing in Klingon.

Türkçe oku
Klingonca, dilbilimci Marc Okrand'ın Star Trek için yazılmış birkaç Klingon repliğini kullanılabilir bir dile dönüştürmesiyle doğdu. Okrand'ın 1985'te yayımlanan Klingon Sözlüğü, dilin kelimelerini ve dilbilgisini ortaya koydu. Seslerin her biri insan dillerinde de bulunur; Klingoncayı yabancı duyuran, bunların alışılmadık biçimde bir araya gelmesidir.

İlk Klingonca kelimeleri, Star Trek'in Scotty'si olarak tanınan oyuncu James Doohan, 1979 yapımı Star Trek: The Motion Picture için uydurmuştu. Yapımcılar 1984'teki Star Trek III için Okrand'dan bu kelimelerden gerçek bir dil kurmasını istedi. Okrand dilin en yaygın cümle dizisini nesne-yüklem-özne yaptı; bu, İngilizcenin neredeyse tam tersidir. Avrupa dillerinde seyrek görülen sesler de kullandı: dilin ucu geriye kıvrılarak ya da ağzın en gerisinde, küçük dilin yanında çıkarılan ünsüzler gibi. Dili iyi konuşan pek azdır: yazar Arika Okrent 2009'da akıcı konuşanların sayısını 20 ile 30 arasında tahmin etmişti. Yine de hayranlar bu dilde gösteriler yapmayı sürdürüyor; Washington Shakespeare Company 2010'da Hamlet ve Kuru Gürültü'den sahneleri Klingonca oynadı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Klingon language
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