Star Trek Linguistics and the Real World

[alpha_leonis]

Something I've always wondered about.

The Star Trek movies featured languages constructed for two alien species: the Vulcans and the Klingons -- both of which (at least in ST2 forward) were created by the same linguist named Marc Okrand. Between the two, Klingon has taken off a *lot* within Trek-fan culture, to the point that a few people have learned Klingon fluently, and translations have been produced of a variety of different human works (including Hamlet -- which is actually performed on stage in Klingon on occasion.)

I wonder: why not Vulcan? What is it about our culture that the Klingon language took off, but the Vulcan language remained more stagnant?

The biggest reason that I can think of is that (the last I've been informed) the only "official" Vulcan language that exists is the dozen or so lines of dialog that Mr. Okrand created for movies 2 and 3. (Okrand wasn't involved with the first movie, so the dialog in the Kolinahr scene was gibberish -- designed to match the lip movements of the actors, who filmed the scene in English and then overdubbed later. There was also some Vulcan used in Enterprise, but I don't think Okrand was involved so I doubt it would have been much beyond the gibberish stage.)

I could easily see a market for a Vulcan language dictionary. For example, I've heard that a Klingon translation of the Tao Te Ching has been created and published. That text seems a lot more Vulcan in its character; I have trouble thinking of a Taoist Klingon, but a Taoist Vulcan seems credible to me.

 

[T'Girl]

the only "official" Vulcan language that exists is the dozen or so lines of dialog that Mr. Okrand created for movies 2 and 3

There more of course, there's the dialog at the beginning of TMP, and there are some select words in Amok Time.

There been some supposition that what Spock and Saavik were speaking in the torpedo room wasn't a Vulcan language, but instead a Romulan one. This because of the cut scene between Kirk and Spock where Spock states that Saavik is of Romulan ancestry.

I believe that the non-English words we heard during Amok Time might have been a formal or a ceremonial Vulcan language, like church Latin, and not modern Vulcan.

I also believe that (except what was directed at Kirk and McCoy) what was spoken on Vulcan was in modern Vulcan. Neither Stonn nor T'Pring at any point spoke English.

So we're not talking about "Vulcan" in the show and movies, but multiple different languages.

 

[Orphalesion]

Part of it might be that the Klingons, their language and culture got heaps of exposure in TNG and beyond, while the Vullcans didn't.

 

[Horizons96]

why not Vulcan? What is it about our culture that the Klingon language took off, but the Vulcan language remained more stagnant?

Just theorizing here, could people gravitate more toward Klingon culture because it (perhaps subconsciously) gives them a fantastical conduit to less socially restrictive and inhibitive behaviour?

 

[loghaD]

why not Vulcan? What is it about our culture that the Klingon language took off, but the Vulcan language remained more stagnant?

I believe there are a handful of reasons:

1. Consistent use in a popular series of films released over a short period of time. Marc Okrand's tlhIngan Hol was used in Star Trek III, V and VI, and was based on dialogue from The Motion Picture.
   
   The Vulcan language did not get as much use in these films, and it also wasn't as systematic. The Vulcan dialogue in The Wrath of Khan, for example, had no real relation to the Vulcan dialogue in The Motion Picture; Okrand's job was simply to match sounds to lip movements, and in fact, he had no idea Vulcan had been spoken in TMP.
   _________________________
2. Published source material: During this period, Marc Okrand published The Klingon Dictionary, allowing people to start using the language for themselves.
   
   No such material exists for Vulcan. It's been up to fans to try to piece these disparate sources and retcon them together into a consistent framework, and they've done a tremendous job with it, but it lacks official status.
   
   Diane Duane apparently requested that she be allowed to print a Romulan dictionary based on material she had developed for her excellent Rihannsu series.
   This would no doubt have been awesome, but alas, she was told that there just wasn't much of a market for it; the Romulans hadn't had much exposure of late, and the Star Trek language market was already kind of saturated.
   _________________________
3. The dedicated early adopters, who started contacting each other, started working on projects together, and founded organizations such as The Klingon Language Institute.
   
   Fortunately, this was at around the same time that the internet started becoming available for home use, and the Klingon Language Institute's website is considered somewhat of a relic from the early internet.
   (A sparkling new one is expected within a few months, though.)
   _________________________
4. Our reputation precedes us ... and exceeds us.
   
   A few years back, a guy called The Irish Polyglot decided to spend a few weeks learning the basics of Klingon.
   His style is to learn languages quickly through immersion, and so his plan was to go to a Star Trek convention where actors from the theatre company Commedia Beauregard would be performing scenes from their annual production A Klingon Christmas Carol.
   He figured there would no doubt be plenty of fluent Klingon-speakers there, but alas, there were none. The actors had gotten some training in the basics of the language, but mostly they had memorized their lines, the way an opera singer can memorize lines in a language they don't understand.
   We expect there are around 30-50 conversationally fluent jatlhwI'pu' in the world, and most of us don't frequent Star Trek conventions.
   
   The Klingon language speaker has become a sort of pop culture archetype, which provides us with a lot of attention (some more desirable, some less), and with that comes a lot of "free advertisement".
   Vulcan-speakers are every bit as worthy of that status as we - perhaps even more so - but the seat, in a sense, is already filled.
   
   So, the apparently vast difference in interest may in part be a matter of perception.
   _________________________
5. Decades' worth of fan interaction.
   
   Marc Okrand visits Klingon language meet-ups every year, and we also keep in touch with him through other means. Every year, we learn a dozen or so new words, many based on gaps we've discovered through continuous use, and this helps keep the language going.

Just theorizing here, could people gravitate more toward Klingon culture because it (perhaps subconsciously) gives them a fantastical conduit to less socially restrictive and inhibitive behaviour?

Marc Okrand has described it somewhat like this:
"There's no real utility in learning the language of a fictional alien language. People do it because it's fun.
So when asking yourself why Klingons enjoy so much attention in pop culture, just ask yourself: Who's the most fun at parties?"

Part of it might be that the Klingons, their language and culture got heaps of exposure in TNG and beyond, while the Vullcans didn't.

If I may go off on a bit of a tangent here:

It's worth noting that the Klingon spoken in the various series is generally not consistent with tlhIngan Hol, language that Klingon-speakers use.
It is, however, true that the culture portrayed has strongly influenced the development of the language, and earned it a lot more attention.

The writers on these TV shows were usually on a tight budget and a tighter schedule, so thoroughly studying the language or bringing in somebody who had was usually out of the question.

A lot of it was "made up phonetically", as one producer described it. Other dialogue was crafted with the help of various language resources, but with a very crude understanding of the grammar.

For example, there is the scene in TNG: "The Bonding" where Worf is performing the ruStay with Jeremy Aster, he's supposed to say the following in Klingon:
"Mother, I honor you."

What he said was:
SoS jIH batlh SoH.

This is what you get when you look up the words "mother", "I", "honor" and "you" in The Klingon Dictionary and put them together in that same order.
However, when tlhIngan Hol grammar is applied, this instead ends up meaning:
"I'm a mother. You are honor."
or "You are the viewscreen of mother's honor."

A better translation would have been SoS qaquvmoH. ("Mother (I->you)-honored-(cause).")

Some of this material has later been retconned into tlhIngan Hol. For example, words like ruus'tai, brak'lul and par'Mach have been absorbed into the language, but spelled ruStay, bIraqlul and parmaq.

Some sentences that use tlhIngan Hol words but not tlhIngan Hol grammar are explained as being examples of ritualized speech, exceptions to the rules, or examples of regional variations.

Some of the dialogue that doesn't make any sense at all is explained to be examples of other Klingon languages (it's a big empire with a long history), or examples of ancestral language passed down through operas and storytelling.
This includes the dialogue between Kahless and Lukara in DS9: Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places; it's a story set a thousand or so years in the past, so of course they're not going to speak the modern standard dialect!
I've personally done some work on retconning a language based on the victory song heard in TNG: Birthright.

This can be a bit disheartening for Star Trek fans coming to the Klingon-speaking community, being told that the Klingon lines they've memorized are not considered "true" Klingon.
This is one way in which the separation between tlhIngan Hol can be a weakness. However, a strength is that the language does not require any prior knowledge of Star Trek. When I started learning the language, I didn't even know what a Klingon was; I referred to them as "the pointy-eared aliens from Star Trek".

(Marc Okrand's position is actually that "All the Klingon in TV and movies is correct; a lot of it just hasn't been explained yet."
Many Klingon-speakers, however, are often less forgiving.)

 

[Timo]

That was an interesting analysis, straight from the warrior's mouth!

examples of other Klingon languages (it's a big empire with a long history)

There's a built-in excuse in the genre for such things that's actually quite meta: Battle Language.

That is, John M. Ford's old and venerated description of Klingon life pre-Okrand, The Final Reflection, mentions the Klingons as changing from the standard vernacular to a more compact language when barking commands and their replies during battles. Frank Herbert's Dune would be an obvious influence; his Houses spoke their own, made-up languages, not just for battlefield brevity, but as a form of code, no doubt simple to break with advanced cryptography but very effective in the heat of battle; shades of the real-world WWII "windtalkers" there, too.

What would be more fitting than Klingons in certain tactical situations switching to a made-up language, specific to their own little House in the wilderness that is the interne... Uh, the interstellar space?

Timo Saloniemi