Re: some questions
Saul Epstein 
Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:27:44 -0600

Quotes from: Surak of Vulcan <surak_1*hotmail,com>
Date: Monday, March 2, 1998 8:37 PM
 
> Is the Vulcan language officially called Yakana?

There isn't much about Vulcan language that can be described as
official. We have a sparse number of references and examples from the
recorded dramatic performances of the large and small screens, and
that pretty much exhausts officiality. Unlike Klingon language, there
is no Paramount-published dictionary, and no Paramount-tolerated
development organization.

> Has anyone
> even heard of this before?

Not specifically. But I know separate efforts have and may continue
to be made. I think, when the question has come up, that we tend to
consider these to be other dialects or languages among any number
that may be spoken by Vulcans over time.

> The reason I ask is because of a web
> site created by Steve Nibblink (sp?).  He has the only Vulcan
> dictionary (that he and I have seen or know of) on the web.

Fascinating. There is, of course, another. As I mentioned, our work
so far has focussed on development of the Zvelebil Construction. Our
source materials, including a dictionary, can be found at Marketa
Z.'s Vulcan Information Centre,

	http://www,ludwig,ucl,ac,uk/st/StarTrek/Vulcan/Vulcan,html

Most of the words in this starting list are taken from the usable
data in the ST episodes and films or various ST novels.

There is also an analysis of some Vulcan sentences at

	http://www,uit,net/liberty/vulcan

> There
> are at least a couple hundred words in this collection.  Some of
> the words were created by eager contributors which derived such 
> rediculous words as m'cdonl'd = dinner, wt'wht'r = deciet, and som
> others like m'lgibs'n = lethal, or something like that.

Cute.
 
> Is one of the functions of this list to expand the vocabulary of
> Vulcan?

Yes. Though we haven't been doing very much of that. We spent a time
discussing finer points of the sounds in the language, the
differences between them, methods for representing them, and some
rules governing what sequences they can occur in. Then we spent a
longer time discussing some aspects of ZC grammar, and some grammar
in general. When we trailed off we were discussing the form of
questions -- that is, how one asks questions in Vulcan.

However, once our discussion of permissible sound sequences had
reached a certain point, Rob Z. undertook the creation of a program
that will generate well-formed Vulcan words at random, to which
meanings can then be assigned. (No pressure, Rob. ;-) )

> If so, consider that because rokase means literally,
> medicine place, or hospital, that roratoq means paper place, or
> folder.

Are these from the dictionary you mentioned? They actually do meet ZC
rules for compounds. "Place of paper," is a little vague, though. It
could refer to a place where paper is made, stored, sold, used, etc.

> Q:  If I want to say, "Your friend Surak"
>  do I say it like  "S'at t'hyla Surak"?

Very close. I believe the correct construction is

	s'at t'haila'ong surak

meaning roughly, "your friend (who is) also Surak." This is distinct
from

	s'at t'haila'ong surakong

meaning "your friend and Surak."

Don't be too concerned with spelling just yet, as it's in a kind of
limbo. One of the things we'll need to do, once the word-generator
starts up, if not before, is update our word-list with "consistent"
spelling...

--
from Saul Epstein
liberty*uit,net
www,jccc,net/~sepstein
"Surak ow'phaaper thes'hi thes'tca'; thes'phaadjar thes'hi
	suraketca'."
							-- K'dvarin Urswhl'at