Why did they change the pronunciation of "Klingon"?

[LtComData]

Hello fellow Trek fans, new user here with a question, apologies if it's been asked before.

I got into Trek last year after having a passing familiarity with it forever. I've seen all of TNG and DS9 and am now about halfway through TOS. One thing I noticed is that in TOS many characters (even Klingons themselves) alternate between "KLING-in" and "Kling-GON" for the pronunciation, while by TNG it's pretty much universally "Kling-ON". (Might be like that in the TOS movies too, I'm not there yet).

For all I know there's an in-universe explanation somewhere, but I was curious if there's a production standpoint answer. Solidifying the pronunciation to just one option makes sense to avoid confusion, but why did they change it to something that wasn't even used as much in the original series?

 

[The Wormhole]

"Kling-on" was always meant to be the proper pronunciation. Just some actors on TOS came out with "Kling-in" instead and no one bothered to correct them.

 

[Tenacity]

In universe, TNG is a near century after TOS, pronunciations changes over time.

 

[Dukhat]

In universe, TNG is a near century after TOS, pronunciations changes over time.

He was asking from a production viewpoint, not an in-universe explanation.

 

[Orphalesion]

Isn't that just a thing with some dialects/régional accents of English that the vowels in a word after the initial one are kinda slurred?
I'd chalk it up to that. Or that they might not have figured out which way they wanted it. In the early seasons of Game of Thrones they alternated between pronouncing the Tyrell family's name as "tirrul" and "tie-rell" before the latter pronunciation won out.

 

[Angry Fanboy]

Can't say I've ever even noticed

 

[Qonundrum]

"Kling-on" was always meant to be the proper pronunciation. Just some actors on TOS came out with "Kling-in" instead and no one bothered to correct them.

Holy hasperat, Batman!

(The final Ro episode had the same issue... I wrote it off as different dialects/pronunciations/accents. And/or inconsistent actors, it's all good.)

 

[Tuskin38]

In universe, TNG is a near century after TOS, pronunciations changes over time.

It changed to Kling-on in TOS and the TOS movies, it wasn't just TNG.

 

[137th Gebirg]

IIRC, the first I heard the alternate pronunciation (Kling-IN) was George Takei. I can't remember if he started doing that in TOS, but he definitely did in TAS, as he payed Kuri, a Klingon commander in TAS' "Time Trap", where the mispronunciation was most noticable and quite jarring.

Then we started getting Marc Okrand's third "tlhIngan" pronunciation, when TSFS and later TNG came around, ironically with the language he created ("tlhIngan Hol") that has no equivalent to the letter "K" (except maybe "Q"?).

 

[The Wormhole]

Honestly, the only time I've even noticed anyone saying "Kling-in" was Cyrano Jones in The Trouble With Tribbles.

 

[Tuskin38]

"tlhIngan"

I never realized that was meant to be the Klingon word for, well Klingon. I thought it was just 'language' or something.

I never heard it pronounced, nor have I actually tried to sound it out before, but I hear it now.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Honestly, the only time I've even noticed anyone saying "Kling-in" was Cyrano Jones in The Trouble With Tribbles.

Oh yeah - That's a good example! Totally forgot about that one.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I never realized that was meant to be the Klingon word for, well Klingon. I thought it was just 'language' or something.

I never heard it pronounced, nor have I actually tried to sound it out before, but I hear it now.

Yep, I think maybe we heard it mentioned by name in Discovery's pilot ("Vulcan Hello"/"Battle of the Binary Stars"), as they went to great lengths to get the language right, even so far as changing the more common pronunciation of "Kahless" to sound like (apparently correct) "Kay-LESH".

I remember there was a big kerfuffle over this when the pilot aired, only to be confirmed that that was the correct pronunciation of the name, and literally everyone else that ever spoke the name from the beginning (including Kahless himself in TNG's "Rightful Heir") got it wrong! I just initially chalked it up to the actors not being able to speak properly through all the heavy face prosthetic they were forced to wear in the beginning of that show.

 

[Tuskin38]

I just initially chalked it up to the actors not being able to speak properly through all the heavy face prosthetic they were forced to wear in the beginning of that show.

A lot of people did. But if you notice, Tyler/Voq sounds basically the same when speaking Klingon when outside of the makeup. Because as you (basically) said, they're using Marc Okrand's pronunciation guide.

Some of the spoken Klingon in ST6 sounds very close to how Discovery did it. The scene between Azetbur and her Generals after she talks to the President is very gutteral and there's a lot of ess sounds.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

And gotta love the continual back-and-forth pronunciations of "Sarek" in each series. "Sa-" sounding like the first syllable in "Sarah" versus the first syllable in "Saruman," depending on who was saying it. The same thing happened in PIC with the name "Narek."

 

[flandry84]

Does anyone else think that Patrick Stewart calls TomalEk TomalUk?

 

[LtComData]

Thanks everyone, so it seems the consensus is the TNG onward pronunciation was the intent and TOS just had mistakes like that? "Kling-ON" does sound more intimidating than "KLING-in".

Honestly, the only time I've even noticed anyone saying "Kling-in" was Cyrano Jones in The Trouble With Tribbles.

That's what sparked me to ask the question, although I'm sure I heard it before that, just can't remember who said it.

Does anyone else think that Patrick Stewart calls TomalEk TomalUk?

To be fair, you might be able to chalk that one up to his real accent.

 

[Greg Cox]

This is what you get when you ask actors to speak made-up words -- without decades of previous episodes to call upon for reference.

Heck, the only reason the "Gumato" became a "Mugato" instead was because DeForest Kelley kept mispronouncing it, so it was easier to just change the name of the monster to fit what the actor kept saying.

 

[DonIago]

Can we talk about the various pronunciations of Goa'uld in Stargate:SG-1 now?

 

[Angry Fanboy]

...even so far as changing the more common pronunciation of "Kahless" to sound like (apparently correct) "Kay-LESH".

Otherwise known as the Sean Connery pronunciation.