Why did they change the pronunciation of "Klingon"?

[Kor]

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.

The "ngan" portion is an identifier for a particular people/person, similar to the Klingon words for a Romulan person (romuluSngan) and a Terran person (teraSngan) spoken in STV:TFF (1:09 onward):

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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.

Yes, I was one of the ones who pointed this out about Kahless. But people who were complaining about it didn't care even when the facts were brought up. It's funny how that works.

Kor

 

[NCC-73515]

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.

Worf tried to say it when he wanted to get married to Kehleyr, but instead of tlhIngan jIH, he said teehingan ji XD

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".

qeylIS

Does anyone else think that Patrick Stewart calls TomalEk TomalUk?

That's cause it's TomalAk

teraSngan

tera'ngan

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm pretty sure they only said "Kling-In" in "Errand of Mercy". In the second and third seasons it's "Kling-On".

I chalk it up to nothing more than working out the pronunciation in their first appearance. It's like when the Bajorans were called the "Bajora" in "Ensign Ro". They're never called that again, afterwards.

 

[scotpens]

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.

DeForest Kelly mispronounced a lot of made-up words. In "The Corbomite Maneuver," he pronounced Balok's name to rhyme with "phallic." In "Journey to Babel," he calls Spock's childhood pet a "sellet" -- even though he just heard Amanda pronounce it as "say-laht"!

 

[137th Gebirg]

I'm pretty sure they only said "Kling-In" in "Errand of Mercy". In the second and third seasons it's "Kling-On".

I chalk it up to nothing more than working out the pronunciation in their first appearance. It's like when the Bajorans were called the "Bajora" in "Ensign Ro". They're never called that again, afterwards.

Most likely. I remember several references to “Vulcanians” in S1 TOS as well. Was quite jarring. Same kind of thing, I imagine.

 

[Dukhat]

I’m pretty sure Eleen from “Friday’s Child” also said ‘Kling-in.’

 

[LtComData]

Even when they do say the word with the "ON" sound they double up the "g" a lot of the time, like putting "cling" and "gone" together. Not sure if that was clear in my OP, that's why the TNG era change is more jarring.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Then there was that one Admiral in the Enterprise pilot who called them “Klingots”.

 

[FormerLurker]

I’m pretty sure Eleen from “Friday’s Child” also said ‘Kling-in.’

I chalk that up to her wanting Bob the discount Klingon to get hot under the collar. She's pretty snotty at him when she says it.

 

[Lord Garth]

I chalk that up to her wanting Bob the discount Klingon to get hot under the collar. She's pretty snotty at him when she says it.

If anyone deserved to be called a "Kling-In", it's him. "Klingon" is too good for Discount Bob.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

In "Arena", Shatner says "Meh-trones" instead of "Meh-trons."

 

[Noname Given]

As far as TOS goes, I think the only time I heard it pronounced as "Kling-in" was by Julie Newmar (who played Ele-en, wife of the High Tyr) in TOS - S2 "Friday's Child"; but in that same episode, everyone else was pronouncing it "Kling-on".

So yeah, like others said, it was probably just actors and crew being presented with a made up name, doing their on interpretation, and the director/script supervisor/other cast in the scene not making a big deal out of it, or letting the actor 'act'.

Hell, in the TAS episode "The Pirates of Orion" William Shatner pronounces 'Orion' of "Orion Pirates" - which he and everyone else in the case pronounced as 'o-RYE-en' in the live action TOS - S2 "Journey to Babel" as 'OR-ee-un' - while Leonard Nimoy and the rest still say is as 'o-RYE-en' (but to be fair for TAS all the lines were recorded separately in a booth on different days, they never had actors working together for the voice overs.)

 

[Falconer]

I'm pretty sure they only said "Kling-In" in "Errand of Mercy". In the second and third seasons it's "Kling-On".

Actually, I think it’s the other way around, it’s consistently -ON in Errand of Mercy, but Season 2 is where they experimented with -IN. I don’t remember where I read this, but, I think they were trying to make it sound different from “cling on”. But the -IN pronunciation never clung on.