home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3
/
Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso
/
ab20
/
unarced
/
fonts
/
klingon_note.d
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-03-17
|
2KB
|
52 lines
NOTE ON ANONYMOUS KLINGON FONT 1.1
PIQAD 1.1-VAD GhUNWI'BE'HEY GhITlh
This is a Klingon font a friend in Los Angeles sent me. When I got it,
it was horribly disfigured; the spacing for 24- and 48-point was, well,
impossible to rationalize, so either there had been an error in
transferring files, or the person who designed the font had made some
serious blunders. Anyway, I fixed the spacing so that it is regular,
and it should print well. I have also added a 12-point font, and
converted the font ID to NFNT 1024,1025, 1026.
The only sad thing is that I don't know how the font is supposed to
work. In his "Klingon Dictionary" (New York and London: Pocket Books,
1985) Marc Okrand (who created Klingon for the Star Trek films) says the
following:
"There is a native writing system for Klingon (called pIqaD) which seems
to be well-suited to the various dialects. This writing system is not
yet well understood and is, therefore, not used in this dictionary.
Instead, a transcription system based on the English alphabet has been
devised. An article is being prepared for the "Klingon Encyclopedia"
which will explain the details of pIqaD." (p. 11)
I don't know how "canonical" this font is, though as a linguist, font
designer, and Star Trek fan I've decided I'm going to write to Mr Okrand
and see what he thinks. But if anyone has seen this font before with
docs about its orthographic system, please let me know!! As it is, two
things are of note: it is missing the C and the Q; and upper and lower
cases are identical. Punctuation is minimal. For "amateur" purposes I
guess one can just type randomly with it; but if it's to be a linguistic
representation of Marc Okrand's Klingon then it seems pretty weird.
(pIch vighajbe'!) For those interested, the transcribed Klingon
alphabet runs thus:
a, b, ch, D, e, gh, H, I, j, l, m, n, ng, o, p, q, Q, r, S, t, tlh, u,
v, w, y, '
I am thinking of remapping this font so that these correspond to:
a, b, c, d, e, g, h, i, j, l, m, n, f, o, p, q, k, r, s, t, z, u, v, w,
y, x ,
but this would involve creating two new letters. That I won't do
without consulting this world's expert on Klingon epigraphy and
orthography..... So be looking for Klingon 2.0, well, sometime.
tlhIngan Hol DaSovlaHchugh, HIghItlh!
Michael Everson,
meverc95@irlearn,
Dept of Archaeology,
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4,
Ireland.