Pet peeve about Sci-fi words

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2002-09-16 12:04am

You tend to see this a lot in sci-fii today. Trek is one of the biggest offenders. You know that way of writing alien words or names with a little apostrophe? Ya know like, B'lanna, T'pol, K'vort and other shit... Why can't they write the words normally? Look it doesn't look any more exotic to have letters omitted for annoyance. Put the f'ck'n' l'tt'rs in the d'mn word or I w'll sh'v' my foot up y'ur f'ck'ing 'ss!

P.S. this is intended as a silly rant.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2002-09-16 12:12am

What is up with that? Why is the apostrophe considered to add anything to the word? I can see how alien languages would often use sounds that do not exist in English, and that occasionally we might use an apostrophe in the place of such a sound (such as the Spanish use of "X" for the "SH" shound), but if the way the word is pronounced is not different from what the apostrophe denotes in English, then just spell the name normally!

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2002-09-16 12:23am

I guess it's just a brain bug.

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2002-09-16 12:30am

You don't have to worry about me. The apostrophe in my scifi language has a clearly defined meaning: separating two sounds. oNva'a (space), for instance. Just having two a's together would make the sound long; the apostrophe denotes that the sound is made twice. And before anyone complains about the capitalization, that serves a purpose too. A and a, E and e, etc. are different letters in this language.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2002-09-16 03:57am

I think they started using the apostrophes because they make everything harder to pronounce (anyone who tried speaking tlhingan'Hol (Klingonese) know what I'm talking about!).

Then, it became some sort of brainbug.

The worst cases are the Tlhingans (Klingons) of Star Trek and the Narn of Babylon 5.

Warhammer 40K almost steered clear of it until the Tau were released. Their language is riddled with apostrophes, although it's not as bad as the Narn.

However, they have a lot of those apostrophes anyway, for example, a famous renegade Tau leader is named Shas'O Vior'æa Shovah Kaius Mont'yr.

Post by **haas mark** » 2002-09-16 04:11am

I have to agree with XaLEv...even the Hawaiians use this apostrophe to spearate sounds...I use it even in my fantasy to create a slight pause between syllables.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-16 07:34am

originally this started from some earth languages, where in traslation, it repersents a glottal sound. however it's become a monster

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-09-16 12:12pm

I simply say this: With or without this crutch, it's damn hard to make alien names.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2002-09-16 01:18pm

Yeah I'd say its an out of control brain bug since it serves next to no purpose in Trek and most of ther uses.

Post by **Edi** » 2002-09-17 07:07am

It's out of control, but using apostrophes to separate syllables is a legitimate use (unless you want to use hyphens). In general, if they have to be used, sparingly. I've had this problem in writing a sci-fi book (not published, have to finish it first), and a friend (who is a writer) said that that's the best way to turn an editor sour on you, overusing apostrophes. Unfortunately, apostrophes and hyphens are the easiest way of conveying those glottal stops and separating syllables.

The Klingon language seems to be made to annoy anyone who tries to learn anything, there are reasons why the consonant to vowel ratio doesn't much exceed 150:100, it would make for unpronouceable words. Some languages in their written form exceed this (German, 177:100; Czech, ratio unknown to me but presumably similar), but they come down to around 150:100 when spoken. Some languages have more vowels, such as Finnish, where this ratio is 99:100 (more vowels than consonants!). They can also sound a lot more sing-song for this reason.

That W40k Tau example was well.... It's annoying, and annoyingly long for a name, but not the worst I've seen. Try reading Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy and take a look at the Sitha names... (I don't recommend the books unless you're a masochist, taking a look at the appendices is enough and everything's collected onthe same pages too)

Edi

Post by **haas mark** » 2002-09-17 08:17am

What about Polish? More consonants than ANYTHING!!!