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The Klingon Dictionary

The Klingon Dictionary
The cover from The Klingon Dictionary.jpg
Second edition cover
Author Marc Okrand
Country United States
Language English/Klingon
Subject Science Fiction / Linguistics
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Pocket Books
Publication date
1985, extended 1992
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 191 pp.
ISBN
Followed by The Klingon Way

The Klingon Dictionary is a book by Marc Okrand describing the Klingon language. First published in 1985 and then again with an addendum in 1992, it includes pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. It has sold more than three hundred thousand copies and has been translated into five languages.

The book is a description of the grammar with a few examples for every rule. It is not suitable for active learning and practice of the language, because it does not contain any exercises. It has never been intended as a learning book. Its source was intended as a guide for scriptwriters and actors. It was only later sold for merchandising for Star Trek fans.

The dictionary is written from an in-universe perspective. After a brief introduction about the Klingon culture and also how the book has been written, the pronunciation of the Klingon letters is described. Instead of using phonetic symbols, the letters of the Latin alphabet are used, some of them written in upper case to distinguish special pronunciations. For instance q and Q are different sounds, and the combination ng is considered as one single letter. The largest part of the book is a description of the grammar, including briefly described rules sorted by type of words, accompanied by a few examples for each grammatical topic. The last part of the book contains a list of vocabulary with roughly 1,500 words, followed by a list of useful phrases. The addendum of 1992 contains some new grammatical details and a list of about 200 new words that appeared in or were created for later movies and in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Since 2008 the book is available for E-book readers.

In 2009, publisher Simon & Schuster introduced an iPhone application version of The Klingon Dictionary as part of three applications rolled into a Klingon Language Suite. The new digital format features a precise pronunciation guide, rules for proper use of affixes and suffixes, and a search menu.

The dictionary was first translated into Portuguese and published in Brazil in 1995. Its title was simply Dicionário da língua klingon.


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