A true genius who helped create the Klingon language

Creating a believable sci-fi or fantasy universe takes a lot of work, and it often involves developing constructed languages, or “conlangs,” that work well enough for the actors to speak and for the audience to believe. Author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien invented several languages ​​for his books, which were expanded for film and television adaptationsgiving Middle-earth an extra level of realism, despite ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​front of the world, such a fantastic world. In recent years, linguist David J. Peterson has become a popular conlang designer, creating everything from Dathraki and Upper Valyrian languages from Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. the development of the Freeman language for Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films, but some other incredible conlang creators helped pave the way decades earlier.

In an interview with StarTrek.comlinguist Mark Okrand shared the secrets behind creating the Klingon language for the Star Trek franchise — specifically Star Trek III: The Quest for Spock. Just a few years before Michael Dorn first played Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation and eventually forever changing the Klingons throughout Star Trek.Okrand planted the seeds of his culture through thoughtful, if terrifying, language.

Okrand explained that Klingon was first spoken in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and that he used that handful of lines as the basis for what would eventually become Klingon. (According to Okrand, the lines in “The Motion Picture” were created by actor James Duane, who played Scotty, making him the original creator of the sound of the Klingon language.) Okrand used “sounds and syllables” from that first film to create the “skeleton” of the language, then he refined it using a set of basic rules. It had to contain all the sounds from Kinofilm, sound non-English, be guttural as it was in the script, and be accessible for English actors to learn. He started with what they needed for The Search for Spock and then added more, even publishing a complete Klingon dictionary. At this point, Okrand has created enough Klingon to speak fluently, and there are others who can speak the language as if it were, say, Spanish or German.

Although the Klingons have previously appeared on Star Trek as villains, The Search for Spock was one of the first times they received extended screen time. The Klingon captain, Kruge, was as Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future., almost unrecognizable in his make-up and it’s up to him to really get the pronunciation of the new and improved Klingon language right. So how did he do? According to Okrand, he succeeded.

Despite trying his best to make it easy for the actors to speak Klingon, it’s a difficult language to pronounce (especially given the way it’s spelled), but Okrand said that Christopher Lloyd, who played Klingon Captain Kruge , was natural:

“He was an excellent student. He was interested not only in correct pronunciation, he wanted to know what words meant and how sentences fit together. We worked together almost every day when they were shooting the spoken Klingon scene. Most of the other Klingon speakers in the film were the Kruge team, a group of people who are more enthusiastic about what should be gibberish to them.”

Okrand also said that William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk and had to say “enlighten me” in Klingon, also remembered his pronunciation lessons. These days, people are more likely to remember the basic Klingon greeting (Qapla’!) or his highly derogatory word for weirdness/anything Klingons don’t like, “petaQ,” an Okrands creation that really has staying power in the fandom. While a Klingon isn’t as flexible as something like the Navi from the Avatar movies, who gave the actors a chance to improve a lotit gave Star Trek a whole new flavor and helped make people die-hard Klingon fans. (This is me. I’m a Klingon fan.) majQa’, Mr. Okrand. boiler.