Answers to some of our Vulcan Language Questions Rob Zook Thu, 26 Jun 1997 09:56:08 -0500 Hi all, Recieved this from Marketa, today, passing it on as she reqeusted: ---- Begin Included Section ---- From: Marketa J Zvelebil Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 16:02:18 -0700 To: Rob Zook Subject: Re: Vulcan language Hi Here are answers to some of the questions that were asked in the vulcan list. Please can you send them on to the mailing list for me? Marketa _______________________________________________________________________ 1) Name of the Planet: The name of the planet is W~L'q'n, where "w~l" is a nearly voiceless latero-bilabial fricative (in terms of "our" articulatory phonetics). Accoustically, it somewhat resembles certain consonants in Welsh mixed with Tamil. In addition, the first consonant has dynamic accent, and the entire word a falling tone. hence "our" transcription and pronunciation [vUlkAn]. The name has nothing to do with the deity known to ancient Romans as Vulcan, the god of fire (pure coincidence). The original form of the name of the planet is, historically, "wellequanno", a compound of "welle > w~l plus quanno > q'n. the modern Vucaln "W~l" developed from "welle", i,e. semi-voiced bilabial fricative "w" followed by "e" , a sound as in standard English final wovel in word like "teacher" etc. followed by long lateral "ll" followed again by "e". Since some Vulcans still pronounce the name of their planet in a more 'archaic' manner, it may SOUND to our ear as a sequence of [w^l-] or [val-], and hence the usual transcription "Vulcan". c,f. also the word dVel'nahr (Vucaln by choice) with the transcription "vel" of the actual W~l. The correct transcription of this term would be d'w~lnar:hr (with dynamic stress on w~l and rising in tonal intonation on na:hr); the prothetic d- indicates, in Vulcan language, that the following word designates not an actual ethnic /national ..,etc. group but a non-genuine, "fake" category (however, without any perjorative connotation!!). 2) Vulcan is a dD language; that means that that which determines precedens that which is determined. (e,g. Attribute-Head). Hence "Spock's partner's blood" is in Vulcan either a) Spock'at t'hyla'at plak (with two genetive suffices 'at) or b) Spocj t'hyla'at plak, with a zero morph for the genetive relation because of the dD principle. 3) Vulcan is a +V +-0 +-S language, e,e. the normal order od constituants is +verb +-object +-subject, e,g. "Do not kill Kirk!" = rIankah Kirkhi (+v+-o). For emphasis the order is changed: Kirkhi rankah "Kill Kirk!" (+-o +v). Other instances: a) Eat Vulcan biscuits = Sparakah kreyla'hi, i,e. spara "eat" +-kah (imperative suffic) kreyla "biscuits (plural) =-'hi (direct object). b) Kill sword-with this human! = Rankah sharian'ti i qomi'hi. for emphasis, e,g. Don't kill this human, kill THAT human = rIankah i qomi'hi, a qomi'hi rankah! 4) Interrogative prefix qa: a) Qa Apock-ash qa Kirk-ash, "Is it Spock or Kirk?" liter. "Interrog. -Spock-or interrog. - Kirk -or". b) Nirsh Spock-azh nirsh Kirk-azh "Neither Spock nor Kirk". c) A: Spock-ong Kirk-ong "Yes {it is} both Spock and Kirk". However, b may also be expressed by Spockniazh Kirkniazh "Neither Spock nor Kirk". d) ni Spock Kirka "Not Spock nut Kirk", i,e. ni- + -a = not A but B. This may also be expressed (less elegantly) as Nirsh Spock uks Kirk. e) Is it Vucaln blood?" = Qa W~l'q'n'at plak. "It is the precious green Vulcan blood. "= A: krupat'oram W~l'q'n'at plakplak, liter. "Yes bluish-green Vulcan of blood [+ intesive reduplication]. This intesive reduplication is here expressive of the notion of 'precious'. Observed that there is no overt existential verb (no 'is')/ f) With verbs, interrog. qa stands always prefixed signalling the interogative function of the following verb, e,g. tixoy "live" s'timuxoy "you are living" (in the sense of 'you are alive'): qa s'timuxoy "are you alive?" the'spaksera "we finished eating": qa the'spaksera "have we finished eating?" qa s'at t;hylaha prala'at'ha s'kroyzo: "did you stop in order to talk to you friend?" Liter: "interrog. + you-gen. friend-dat. talking-dat. you-stop-action in past." 5) Coordinative particle ong "and" a) qomi'ong W~l'q'n'ong "a human and a Vulcan" b) s'ro qomiro'ong W~l'q'n'ong "You three humans and a vulcan." Attention: The coordinative particel must be always suffixed to BOTH (or more) items! It has somewhat different function, too, in utterances like. c) Spock-ong t'hyla'at plak "the blood of friend Spock" i,e. "the bloos od friend who is Spock", lit. "the blood of friend and Spock", in contrast to d) Spock t'hyla'at plak "The blood od Spock's friend", or, less elegantly, Spock'at t'hyla'at plak. -- Dr. Marketa J Zvelebil, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, 91 Riding House Street London W1P 8BT, ENGLAND. Tel: (44) 0171 878-4012 ,Fax: (44) 0171 878-4040 e-mail: marketa*ludwig,ucl,ac,uk http://www,ludwig,ucl,ac,uk/st/hello,html * "Computers make excellent and efficient servants but I have no wish to serve under them." (Spock - The Ultimate Computer) ----- End Included Section --------- ------------------------------- ____/| \ o,O| ACK! =(_)= THPHTH! U #include ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the vulcan-l list, send an email message of "unsubscribe vulcan-l" to majordomo*shikahr,com,inter,net