Klingon Language - Grammar

Grammar

Klingon is an agglutinative language, using mainly affixes in order to alter the function or meaning of words. Some nouns have inherently plural forms, such as jengva′ "plate" (vs. ngop "plates"). In other cases, a suffix is required to denote plurality. Depending on the type of noun (body part, being capable of using language, or neither) the suffix changes. For beings capable of using language, the suffix is -pu′, as in tlhInganpu′, meaning "Klingons," or jaghpu′, meaning "enemies". For body parts, the plural suffix is -Du′, as in mInDu′, "eyes". For items that are neither body parts, nor capable of speech, the suffix is -mey, such as in Hovmey ("stars"), or targhmey ("targs") for a Klingon kind of boar. In certain cases, however, there is a word part that defines gender, although it is not defined as a suffix. These following words are compound nouns. The words puqloD and puqbe′ (meaning "son" and "daughter" respectively) when referenced with other words, imply that loD means "male", where be′ is female (puq meaning "child").

Klingon nouns take suffixes to indicate grammatical number. There are three noun classes, two levels of deixis, and a possession and syntactic function. In all, twenty-nine noun suffixes from five classes may be employed: jupoypu′na′wI′vaD "for my beloved true friends". A word may carry no more than one suffix from each class, and the classes have a specific order of appearance. A few suffixes, called "rovers", are exempt from this order restriction and have their own individual rules for placement. For example, -be′ is a negating suffix that immediately follows the element of the word being negated, while -Qo′ is a suffix meaning "don′t!" and always comes at the end of the verb phrase, unless it is followed by a class 9 suffix.

Verbs in Klingon take a prefix indicating the number and person of the subject and object, whereas suffixes are taken from nine ordered classes, and a special suffix class called rovers. Each of the four known rovers has a unique rule controlling its position among the suffixes in the verb. Verbs are marked for aspect, certainty, predisposition and volition, dynamic, causative, mood, negation, and honorific, and the Klingon verb has two moods: indicative and imperative.

The most common word order in Klingon is Object Verb Subject, and, in most cases, the word order is the exact reverse of analogous word orders in English:

DaH mojaq-mey-vam DI-vuS-nIS-be' 'e' vI-Har now suffixlimit-need that believe "I believe that we do not need to limit these suffixes now."

Hyphens are used in the above only to illustrate the use of affixes. Hyphens are not used in Klingon.

An important dimension of Klingon grammar is the reality of the language's ungrammaticality. A notable property of the language is its shortening or compression of communicative declarations. This abbreviating feature encompasses the techniques of Clipped Klingon (tlhIngan Hol poD or, more simply, Hol poD) and Ritualized Speech. Clipped Klingon is especially useful in situations where speed is a decisive factor. Grammar is irrelevant, and sentence parts deemed to be superfluous are dropped. Intentional ungrammaticality is widespread, and it takes many forms. It is exemplified by the practice of pabHa′, which Marc Okrand translates as "to misfollow the rules" or "to follow the rules wrongly".