http://www.azcentral.com/ent/pop/art...klingon23.html
NEW YORK - The most recent edition of the Oxford English Dictionary contains roughly 291,500 words. Together, the dictionary's 20 volumes weigh 138 pounds spread out over 21,730 pages.
The Klingon Dictionary, on the other hand, weighs less than 2 pounds and includes fewer than 2,000 root entries. The book, which details the vocabulary of the bumpy-headed warrior race from Star Trek, has 191 pages, measures 5 inches by 8 inches, costs $12 and, most important, contains relevant phrases such as "Activate the transporter beam" (jol ylchu').
But the Klingon language is not isolated to the realm of television and Hollywood. Thousands of Klingon linguists, who are known as Klingonists, in at least 50 countries and every continent (including Antarctica) devote their time to the study of a language that's much more complex than simple screen dialogue.
They meet at Klingon Kamps and science fiction conferences, on the Internet (Google.com has a separate search site exclusively in Klingon), and in small groups around the world to discuss the language and culture of the Klingon people, an alien race founded on the principles of honor and strength.
Sometimes they don Klingon uniforms, which feature thick black manes of hair; a broad forehead with lumpy lines, like a row of speed bumps; and typically some form of thin chain mail armor. It's not uncommon for phasers or half-moon Klingon dueling swords (batl'eth) to show up.
The Klingon Language Institute (KLI), however, a nonprofit organization that promotes the study and use of Klingon, eschews uniforms.
"We have nothing against people who like to dress up, focusing on the language is just more intellectually rigorous," said Dr. Lawrence Schoen, founder of the KLI. "Language is the best of both worlds because it's demanding, but you also get the warm fuzzies from being involved with Star Trek."
During its annual conference -- which, over the last 10 years has taken place in locations as diverse as Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Belgium --KLI offers Klingon proficiency exams to its 2,000 or so members. The organization, whose Web site, kli.org, has logged almost 1 million hits since 1999, also offers a Klingon language course through the post office.
Generally, new languages tend to develop as offshoots of other existing tongues. For example, the Romance languages (French, Spanish, and Italian, among others) were each derived from Latin.
Klingon, however, is difficult to master, in part because it doesn't fit into an established family of languages. Marc Okrand, the linguist who constructed the language in 1984 when Paramount Pictures called him to "create realistic sounding dialogue" for "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," invented it without relying on existing vocabularies.
In fact, owing to Klingon's unique grammar, sound patterns and diction, the government recently asked Schoen to give a presentation to military and civilian linguists at the National Security Agency. Aware of possible terrorist threats, the government was curious about the potential for al-Qaida operatives to communicate through Klingon, similar to the way Allied troops used Navajo code talkers to coordinate attacks during World War II.
In line with most military cultures, Klingons communicate through a no-nonsense exchange of commands, which are articulated through spits, barks and hacks. They don't believe in pleasantries. The race has no words for "please" or "thank you."
"There's a lot of throat clearing," said Schoen. "It sounds like coughing and spitting, and I can say it's certainly not a mellifluous language."
In fact, the KLI cautions Klingonists that "some of the sounds may make the person you're talking to a little wet. This is correct and to be expected."
Accusing a Klingon of having a mother with a smooth forehead (Hab SoSlI' Quch!) is considered a particularly abusive comment. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam" translates to "today is a good day to die," which is indisputably an important statement in any warrior culture. But Klingons are also a practical people, as evidenced by nuts-and-bolts questions such as asking where the bathroom can be located (nuqDaq 'oH puchpa"e'?).
Although the Klingon language contains only about 2,000 words, each can be modified with prefixes and suffixes to connote different meanings. For example, "qepHom" translates into a small gathering or meeting, while a "qep'a'" is a large conference.
Sometimes, despite having only a few thousand words, Klingon can be comprehensive in areas earthlings might not expect. A "borghel," for example, is a very small bird whose eggs are considered quite tasty, while a "lotlhmoq" is defined as a bird that swoops into the water in order to catch food, but cannot swim. A "HomwI'" describes the Klingon second toe; "bIQSIp 'ugh" identifies the ever-important deuterium isotope; and finally, a "jInaq" is an amulet presented to Klingon daughters when they reach mating age.
Other times, however, Klingon suffers a crippling case of oversight. The language acquired a word for granddaughter (puqnI'be') only in October 2000. And the word for horizon (ghangwI'), a mainstay of interstellar travelers everywhere, was added just recently, in July 2002.
Overall, it's safe to say that most Americans --even Star Trek fans -- don't understand the attraction of studying Klingon.
"I like Star Trek probably more than the next guy," said Matt Kavanaugh, who has seen all of the movies and watches "The Next Generation" regularly. "But I think these guys have a little too much free time."
Dr. Leanne Hinton, chair of the Linguistics Department at U.C. Berkeley, said she was dubious about the language's scholarly value.
"I think studying Klingon is more of a pastime," she said, "but it's a lot more worthwhile than playing video games or even crossword puzzles. It's definitely more intellectually stimulating."
Klingonists claim their pursuits are both scholarly and meaningful. One of the KLI's most notable achievements, for example, is restoring Shakespeare's Hamlet to the "original" Klingon.
The Klingon Hamlet, which took Schoen and his crew years to restore, actually preserves Shakespeare's rhyming iambic pentameter, not to mention the Bard's puns and clever witticisms.
"Now we're working on Much Ado About Nothing," Schoen said. "It's taking a while because we're doing it right."
A consortium of Klingon groups is also working on translations of the New and Old Testaments, but progress is slow.
"That project stalled somewhat because we're working from the original Aramaic texts," Schoen said. "Basically, the number of people who can do that can fit on your lap."
The KLI printed 1,000 hardbound copies of Hamlet before selling the rights to Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books. Schoen used the advance money from the sale to endow a scholarship for aspiring linguists.
The Klingon Hamlet is considered restored, not translated, because of a line in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," when visiting Klingon Chancellor Gorkon surprises the crew of the Enterprise by announcing, "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon."
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