[Tlhingan-hol] Dothraki nugh vIghal

[David Trimboli]

On 4/11/2013 5:45 AM, PICHLMANN Christoph wrote:
> Am 08.04.2013 22:55, schrieb David Trimboli:
>> There is no International Committee on the Klingon Language, and I
>> for one would not recognize any such committee's authority to tell
>> me what is and is not Klingon.
> What would be necessary for you to recognize/accept an authority to
> tell you what is and is not klingon?

Okrand is the authority. His invented language has an invented context: 
Maltz the Klingon was captured by Kirk and crew, became a prisoner of 
the Federation, and dedicated himself to providing the Federation 
greater understanding of Klingons, including their language. Okrand has 
some kind of trans-temporal communication with Maltz, with whom he 
consults in matters of language and culture. Okrand then reports his 
findings to us.

For anyone else to have this authority, Okrand must transfer this 
fiction. He must announce that someone else has gained contact with 
Maltz or another Klingon, and that new party must continue the fiction 
that they are getting their information from their Klingon informant.

> Would you accept/want a central authority at all, for that matter? If
> not - what else? The only alternative to a central authority I see
> would be anyone making up words and grammar as they like.

There's another alternative you apparently haven't considered: that 
nobody declares themselves a word-sovereign, and that everyone study the 
language provided instead of inventing it themselves. This is what the 
KLI has done for decades.

>> In fact, it would be fascinating to watch the two diverge as
>> speakers of Living Klingon accepted new words and grammar to handle
>> things that Classical Klingon couldn't.
> I wouldn't call that fascinating. Horrible, rather. I think that's
> what happens with HTML right now - WHATWG is apparently determined to
> ruin what the W3C intended. If the same would happen to klingon, I'd
> probably stop trying to learn it.

Spoken language is not software; I reject this comparison. Do you think 
the world would be better off if everyone spoke the SAME language?

-- 
SuStel
http://www.trimboli.name/