A Study on Klingon Language: An Exploration of Language Change and Development

Abstract

Language is generally understood as a system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, and/or written symbols. Constructed languages or Artificial languages are different from natural languages, specifically due to their origin. A constructed language is defined as a complete language system written by one person, who wants his/her language to be used by others for specific purposes. The Klingon language is the constructed language that was developed for the movie Star Trek, spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe. Upon request of the director of Star Trek, the linguist Mark Okrand deliberately designed Klingon language for the warrior clan in the said movie. The main aim of this research is to analyze how the Klingon language changed throughout the years of its existence. This study investigates the lexical and grammatical changes of the Klingon language. It questions whether the Klingon language, being an artificial or a constructed language, goes through the same process of change as a natural language. It is the contention that even so-called ‘natural’ languages are a product of humans throughout human civilization. Thus, it argues that constructed languages also function, evolve, and change similar to natural languages. Content analysis and desk review were used as the primary data analyzing methods of this research. Multiple theories were used for this purpose, including theoretical information on language change, types of language change; specifically, lexical and grammatical changes, and Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistic Model. Through this study, it was identified that the Klingon language has gone through alterations over time. The gathered data proved that the Klingon language has changed both in the forms of lexical and grammatical aspects. However, the researcher discovered that the pace and manner in which these changes occur in constructed languages are different from natural languages. For instance, one of the main constraints towards the development of this language is the hegemony of the language maker and conservative perception of neologism.