Preliminary Ferengi Lexicon
Version 1.95
Written by Timothy Miller
Email: tmil…@suntan.eng.usf.edu
UsMail:
Timothy Miller
7519 Winging Way Drive
Tampa, FL 33615-1519
This file is intended to spark interest in the Ferengi language and get a
foot-hold in the community of Trekkers on the internet. Paramount doesn’t
know who I am and doesn’t know my experience with linguistics, so they
most certainly wouldn’t take me seriously. On the other hand, if the
Trekkers see this file, accept the language, bring copies of this file to
Trek conventions, show it to others at Trek conventions, and basically
spread the word about this, then I’ll have a chance.
This file may be freely distributed to anyone, but you may not remove my
name or email address from the file, nor may you modify it in any way
except with the intention of sending the file directly back to me with
comments. This language, not associated with the Ferengi name, is
copyrighted to me, Timothy Miller. The name "Ferengi" is a trademark
of Paramount. Since I do not have rights to use the name "Ferengi", I
cannot publish this text with the intent of making profit, but it is my
intention to contact Paramount to get rights to use this language in a
book. If anyone can tell me who I should contact in this regard, please
tell me.
And speaking of comments, please feel free to make any comments and
suggestions that you like. Tell me about errors, suggest additions,
express needs, etc. Any and all feedback is welcome.
Once the existence of this text file is brought to the attention of those
at Paramount, I will be able to put together a complete book that includes
a complete language, as well as some history of the Ferengi language
and culture and two glossaries, one of regular words, and one of an extensive
vocabulary of economic and mathematical terms.
This is by far not a final version of the language. There isn’t enough
vocabulary to get much of a point across, and there are many necessary
concepts missing. I will be working from feedback I get from other
trekkers as well as people in the Foreign Language Department of the
University of South Florida. Therefore, anything in this file is subject
to change from one version to the next. I will try to keep continuity so
you don’t find yourself wasting time reading this, but I will correct
flaws when I find them, however I need to.
If you are interested in role-playing Star Trek, there is a multi-user,
interactive game on the internet called TrekMOO. Just telnet to
"trekmoo.microserve.com 2499" and you will find there a number of Ferengi
who are already trying to use this language.
Many thanks to Dr. Jacob Caflisch with the University of South Florida who
has provided me with valueable information and many suggestions for improving
this text. And also many thanks to David Salo from Madison, Wisconsin
who helped me much by performing a "historical analysis" of the language and
who began to put sentences together which helped me much in building this
language.
Table of Contents:
1. Phonology: How do I pronounce Ferengi words?
2. Grammar: How do I put words and sentences together?
3. Vocabulary: What do these words mean?
4. Example Ferengi sentences, with English phonetics (yuck!)
5. English (American) words spelled using Ferengi phonetics
(to give you a better idea of how this writing system works)
Section 1 — Phonlogy
This section describes a spelling system that I use to write Ferengi
words. It is a phonemic system that described Ferengi words sound-for-
sound, with a specific, consistent sound assigned to each letter.
Upper and lower case letters are distinct from one another. Do not
try to pronounce any vowels as if the Ferengi words were English words;
your pronunciation will be wrong.
Phonemic spellings of Ferengi sounds, words, and sentences are often shown
beween slashes (/…/).
Mostly english words are used as examples, but for the vowels and foreign
consonants, it’s very hard, so I do my best.
CONSONANTS
Stops
Voiceless Labial /p/ — [p]et, sto[p]
Dental /t/ — [t]op, po[t]
Velar /k/ — [k]ite, ba[ck]
Uvular /q/ — Like /k/ but the back of the tongue
is against the uvula, rather than
the velum.
Glottal /?/ — the stop in the middle of uh[-]oh
Also in Cochney or Scottish bo[tt]le
Voiced Labial /b/ — [b]et, sta[b]
Dental /d/ — [d]umb, ba[d]
Velar /g/ — [g]ood, ba[g]
Voiced Implosive
Labial /V/ — pronounced like /b/, but air is sucked
into the mouth at the instant that the
lips part.
Dental /C/ — pronounced like /d/, but ingressive
Velar /X/ — like /g/, but ingressive
Fricatives
Voiceless Bilabial /P/ — like /f/, but with the lips
Labiodental /f/ — [f]an, hal[f]; becomes /P/ after /p/
Interdental /T/ — [th]in, ba[th]
Dental /s/ — [s]top, pa[ss]
Palatal /S/ — [sh]ine, bo[sh]
Velar /x/ — Ba[ch] (composer, German)
[H]annukah (Jewish holiday)
Analogy: s:t::x:k
Glottal /h/ — [h]ello, [h]alf
Voiced Bilabial /B/ — like /v/ but with the lips
Labiodental /v/ — [v]ery, hal[v]e; becomes /B/ after /b/
Interdental /D/ — [th]is, ba[th]e
Dental /z/ — [z]ip, spa[zz]
Palatal /Z/ — a[z]ure, mea[s]ure, [j]our (French)
Velar /G/ — [gh]adha (Arabic for ‘lunch’)
Analogies: z:d::G:g, s:z::x:G
Uvular /R/ — Pa[r]is (French), d[r]ei (German)
Like /G/ but with tongue against
the uvula.
Glides
Voiced Labial /w/ — [w]et, ho[w]
Palatal /j/ — [y]ou, bo[y]
Retroflex Palatal /r/ — [r]un (seldom used this way)
Liquids
Voiced Dental /l/ — [l]ive, ta[ll]
Nasals
Voiced Labial /m/ — [m]ud, spa[m]
Dental /n/ — [n]ed, fa[n]
Velar /N/ — ba[ng], si[ng], [ng]uyen
Plosive /M/ — lips together or back of tongue against
velum with velum up, holding in air.
Then air is allowed to suddenly excape
through nose by lowering
of velum, while vocal chords vibrate.
VOWELS
Tense
Front Unrounded High /i/ — b[ee]t, p[ee]k {iy}
Mid /e/ — b[ai]t, p[ay] {ey}
Low /&/ — b[a]t, c[a]t, p[a]ddle (not in Ferengi)
Rounded High /y/ — m[ue]de (German). Say /i/, but with
lips rounded for /u/.
Central Unrounded Mid /^/ — b[u]t, m[u]d {^h} In English, this
is allophonic with /@/, but here it is
strongly tense and distinct from /@/.
Retroflex /r/ — [r]un, f[ur], wat[er]. These are
the American pronounciation. They
most be pronounced correctly, and
strongly retroflex. Used as a vowel.
Sounds just like "er" in American.
Back Rounded High /u/ — m[oo]d, f[oo]d, g[oo]p {uw}
Mid /o/ — b[oa]t, t[o]ne, tac[o] {ow}
(NOT Brittish /@U/)
Low [A] — br[a], b[o]x (American)
(interchangable in Ferengi with /a/)
Lax
Front Unrounded High /I/ — b[i]t, m[i]lk
Mid /E/ — b[e]t, f[e]lt
Central Unrounded Mid [@] — Schwa. Fers[e] (German), c[o]mputer
Low /a/ — m[a]nn (German), t[a]sk (Brittish),
Back Unrounded High /U/ — b[oo]k, f[oo]t
Mid /O/ — b[o]y, w[a]ter (Brittish), m[o]re
Gap [-] — This usually represents a syllable
boundary.
Ferengi have the tendancy nasalize vowels. This means that the velum is
lowered so that air can resonate through the nasal cavities as well as in
the mouth. For example, in English, all vowels before nasal consonants
are nasalized. The nasalization in Ferengi has no effect on meaning, but
there is a pattern to it:
Front vowel + /n/ — nasalize vowel and often drop /n/
Back vowel + /N/ – nasalize vowel and often drop /N/
Rounded vowel + /m/ — nasalize vowel, but don’t drop /m/
In most languages, vowels preceding nasal consonants must be nasalized in
order for there to not be a drastic changein air flow from the oral-vowel
to the nasal consonant. In Ferengi, though, this isn’t always the case,
but it produces a peculiar result. The Nasal Stop listed above is an
artifact of an oral vowel being pronounced before a nasal consonant. The
sound /M/ is the result of the air flow being halted by the tongue on the
mouth (reaching the point of articulation for the nasal consonant), then
suddenly being released through the nose. The proper nasal consonant then
follows that release, but it often overwhelmed by the sound of the nasal
stop.
As an example, consider the case where you try to pronounce /an/ but with
/a/ being an oral vowel. Due to changes in air flow, you actually get
something that sounds like /adMn/. Similarly, /am/ becomes /abMm/ and
…
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