More thoughts on Vulcan Language

1) Name of the Planet:

The name of the planet is W~L'q'n, where "w~l" is a nearly voiceless
latero-bilabial fricative (in terms of "our" articulatory phonetics).
Accoustically, it somewhat resembles certain consonants in Welsh mixed
with Tamil. In addition, the first consonant has dynamic accent, and 
the entire word a falling tone. hence "our" transcription and 
pronunciation [vUlkAn]. The name has nothing to do with the deity
known to ancient Romans as Vulcan, the god of fire (pure coincidence).
The original form of the name of the planet is, historically, 
"wellequanno", a compound of "welle > w~l plus quanno > q'n.
the modern Vucaln "W~l" developed from "welle", i.e. semi-voiced
bilabial fricative "w" followed by "e" , a sound as in standard
English final wovel in word like "teacher" etc. followed by
long lateral "ll" followed again by "e". Since some Vulcans still
pronounce the name of their planet in a more 'archaic' manner, it
may SOUND to our ear as a sequence of [w^l-] or [val-], and hence
the usual transcription "Vulcan".
c.f. also the word dVel'nahr (Vucaln by choice) with the transcription
"vel" of the actual W~l. The correct transcription of this term
would be d'w~lnar:hr (with dynamic stress on w~l and rising in 
tonal intonation on na:hr); the prothetic d- indicates, in
Vulcan language, that the following word designates not an
actual ethnic /national ...etc. group but a non-genuine, "fake"
category (however, without any perjorative connotation!!).

2) Vulcan is a dD language; that means that that which determines
precedens that which is determined. (e.g. Attribute-Head). Hence
"Spock's partner's blood" is in Vulcan either 
a) Spock'at t'hyla'at plak (with two genetive suffices 'at) or
b) Spocj t'hyla'at plak, with a zero morph for the genetive relation
because of the dD principle.

3) Vulcan is a +V +-0 +-S language, e.e. the normal order od
constituants is +verb +-object +-subject, e.g. 
"Do not kill Kirk!" = rIankah Kirkhi (+v+-o).
For emphasis the order is changed:
Kirkhi rankah "Kill Kirk!" (+-o +v).
Other instances:
a) Eat Vulcan biscuits = Sparakah kreyla'hi, i.e. spara "eat" +-kah 
(imperative suffic) kreyla "biscuits (plural) =-'hi (direct object).

b) Kill sword-with this human! = Rankah sharian'ti i qomi'hi.
for emphasis, e.g. Don't kill this human, kill THAT human =
rIankah i qomi'hi, a qomi'hi rankah!

4) Interrogative prefix qa:

a) Qa Apock-ash qa Kirk-ash, "Is it Spock or Kirk?" liter.
"Interrog. -Spock-or interrog. - Kirk -or".

b) Nirsh Spock-azh nirsh Kirk-azh "Neither Spock nor Kirk".

c) A: Spock-ong Kirk-ong "Yes {it is} both Spock and Kirk".
However, b may also be expressed by
Spockniazh Kirkniazh "Neither Spock nor Kirk".

d) ni Spock Kirka "Not Spock nut Kirk", i.e. ni- + -a = not A but B.
This may also be expressed (less elegantly) as Nirsh Spock uks Kirk.

e) Is it Vucaln blood?" = Qa W~l'q'n'at plak.
   "It is the precious green Vulcan blood. "= A: 
krupat'oram W~l'q'n'at plakplak, liter. "Yes bluish-green Vulcan of blood
[+ intesive reduplication]. This intesive reduplication is here 
expressive of the notion of 'precious'. Observed that there is no overt
existential verb (no 'is')/

f) With verbs, interrog. qa stands always prefixed signalling
the interogative function of the following verb, e.g.
tixoy "live"
s'timuxoy "you are living" (in the sense of 'you are alive'):
qa s'timuxoy "are you alive?"

the'spaksera "we finished eating":
qa the'spaksera "have we finished eating?"

qa s'at t;hylaha prala'at'ha s'kroyzo: "did you stop in order to 
talk to you friend?" Liter: "interrog. + you-gen. friend-dat. 
talking-dat. you-stop-action in past."

5) Coordinative particle ong "and"

a) qomi'ong W~l'q'n'ong "a human and a Vulcan"

b) s'ro qomiro'ong W~l'q'n'ong "You three humans and a vulcan."

Attention: The coordinative particel must be always suffixed to
BOTH (or more) items! It has somewhat different function, too, in
utterances like.

c) Spock-ong t'hyla'at plak "the blood of friend Spock" i.e.
"the bloos od friend who is Spock", lit. "the blood of friend and
Spock", in contrast to

d) Spock t'hyla'at plak "The blood od Spock's friend", or, less 
elegantly, Spock'at t'hyla'at plak.

Back to Vulcan (I wish)