<p>Apart from the word for "forehead" being diagnostically different in the various dialects of Klingon (as pointed out by @JeffZeitlin), the only other canonical information I know of is that in some dialects, &lt;D&gt; and &lt;b&gt; /ɖ, b/ are pronounced as /ɳ, m/ (&lt;N&gt; and &lt;M&gt;—though I don't remember if those transliterations are canonical, or invented by me for the Klingon <em>Hamlet</em>).</p>

<p>EDIT: More about dialects from <a href="http://klingonska.org/piqad/" rel="noreferrer">http://klingonska.org/piqad/</a>, citing <em>Klingon for the Galactic Traveller</em>. (I was right that I made up &lt;M&gt;, and &lt;N&gt; is not canonical.)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The Tak’ev Dialect</p>
  
  <p>Dialect spoken in the Tak’ev (taq­’ev) region. It is one of the larger
  minority dialects and has a much greater number of speakers that the
  Krotmag dialect. It sounds like blend of Krotmag an Standard Klingon,
  and is the one dialect (that we know of) which most closely resembles
  Standard Klingon. It is only briefly described in canon.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Nasal vowels </li>
  <li>Pronounces b as mb </li>
  <li>Pronounces D as ND</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>The Krotmag Dialect</p>
  
  <p>Dialect spoken in the Krotmag (Qot­magh) region. This dialect has
  fewer speakers than the Tak’ev dialect, but is well known and easily
  recognized by other Klingons. Some of the dialects peculiarities have
  even influenced Standard Klingon.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Nasal vowels </li>
  <li>Pronounces b as m (as in English mime) </li>
  <li>Pronounces D as N</li>
  <li>Often uses extra words in noun phrases, originally to differentiate between words with b and m (e.g. ’uS qam leg foot, nach qam head face), but now prevalent even when no disambiguation is needed (e.g. NeS ghop arm hand, nach ghIch head nose, qorNu’ tuq family house and even yan ’etlh or ’etlh yan sword sword) </li>
  <li>Often adds short extra sentences to disambiguate between verbs with b and m (e.g. mI­moH. yI­jot­choH. You’re impatient. Calm down!, mI­moH. ’oy’ mInNu’­wIj. You’re ugly. My eyes ache.)</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>The Morskan Dialect</p>
  
  <p>Dialect spoken on the conquered Klingon world Morska. We’re treated to
  brief bout of the Morskan dialect of Klingon in ST6 when Enterprise
  encounters a Klingon listening post. (The Klingon spelling of the word
  “Morska” is unknown – the only canon occurrence is in spoken form, in
  the Morskan dialect, by that guard in ST6).</p>
  
  <p>The Morskan dialect is characterized by the following speech patterns.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Pronounces tlh as ghl at the beginning of syllables, and as ts (as in English cats) at the end </li>
  <li>Pronounces H as h (as in English hat) at beginning of syllables, and not pronounced at all at end </li>
  <li>Pronounces Q as Standard Klingon H </li>
  <li>Usually drops -’e’ from the final noun in “to
  be” phrases (except when the subject of such phrases are emphasised)</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T02:25:29.693Z
2018-05-31T05:10:23.503Z
2018-05-31T05:10:23.503Z
Nick Nicholas
<p>There seem to be dialects of Klingon, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language#History" rel="noreferrer">stated here</a>, Maltz speaks the Rumaiy dialect while Saavik speaks the Kumburan dialect.</p>

<p>Is there something known about the differences between the Klingon dialects? What are remarkable features of the respective dialects?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-28T15:07:20.560Z
You might want to consider joining the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list, and asking that there. TTBOMR, the only thing that's been said _officially_ is that the word for 'forehead' is different in just about every dialect.
Jeff Zeitlin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-29T10:05:15.607Z
@JeffZeitlin: Are you active on the mentioned mailing list? Could you post a link to this site there?
Sir Cornflakes
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-30T12:58:45.740Z
I'm not at the computer I receive that list on, and I don't recall the subscription details. It is hosted by the Klingon Language Institute, so you should be able to find info at http://kli.org
Jeff Zeitlin
<klingon><dialects>
Dialects of Klingon
# Dialects of Klingon

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-28)

There seem to be dialects of Klingon, as [stated here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language#History), Maltz speaks the Rumaiy dialect while Saavik speaks the Kumburan dialect.

Is there something known about the differences between the Klingon dialects? What are remarkable features of the respective dialects?

**Tags:** klingon, dialects

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You might want to consider joining the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list, and asking that there. TTBOMR, the only thing that's been said _officially_ is that the word for 'forehead' is different in just about every dialect.  
> **username_0**: @JeffZeitlin: Are you active on the mentioned mailing list? Could you post a link to this site there?  
> **username_1**: I'm not at the computer I receive that list on, and I don't recall the subscription details. It is hosted by the Klingon Language Institute, so you should be able to find info at http://kli.org  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-05-30. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

Apart from the word for "forehead" being diagnostically different in the various dialects of Klingon (as pointed out by @JeffZeitlin), the only other canonical information I know of is that in some dialects,  and  **/ɖ, b/ are pronounced as /ɳ, m/ ( and —though I don't remember if those transliterations are canonical, or invented by me for the Klingon *Hamlet*).**

EDIT: More about dialects from <http://klingonska.org/piqad/>, citing *Klingon for the Galactic Traveller*. (I was right that I made up , and  is not canonical.)

> The Tak’ev Dialect
>
> Dialect spoken in the Tak’ev (taq­’ev) region. It is one of the larger
> minority dialects and has a much greater number of speakers that the
> Krotmag dialect. It sounds like blend of Krotmag an Standard Klingon,
> and is the one dialect (that we know of) which most closely resembles
> Standard Klingon. It is only briefly described in canon.
>
> * Nasal vowels
> * Pronounces b as mb
> * Pronounces D as ND
>
> The Krotmag Dialect
>
> Dialect spoken in the Krotmag (Qot­magh) region. This dialect has
> fewer speakers than the Tak’ev dialect, but is well known and easily
> recognized by other Klingons. Some of the dialects peculiarities have
> even influenced Standard Klingon.
>
> * Nasal vowels
> * Pronounces b as m (as in English mime)
> * Pronounces D as N
> * Often uses extra words in noun phrases, originally to differentiate between words with b and m (e.g. ’uS qam leg foot, nach qam head face), but now prevalent even when no disambiguation is needed (e.g. NeS ghop arm hand, nach ghIch head nose, qorNu’ tuq family house and even yan ’etlh or ’etlh yan sword sword)
> * Often adds short extra sentences to disambiguate between verbs with b and m (e.g. mI­moH. yI­jot­choH. You’re impatient. Calm down!, mI­moH. ’oy’ mInNu’­wIj. You’re ugly. My eyes ache.)
>
> The Morskan Dialect
>
> Dialect spoken on the conquered Klingon world Morska. We’re treated to
> brief bout of the Morskan dialect of Klingon in ST6 when Enterprise
> encounters a Klingon listening post. (The Klingon spelling of the word
> “Morska” is unknown – the only canon occurrence is in spoken form, in
> the Morskan dialect, by that guard in ST6).
>
> The Morskan dialect is characterized by the following speech patterns.
>
> * Pronounces tlh as ghl at the beginning of syllables, and as ts (as in English cats) at the end
> * Pronounces H as h (as in English hat) at beginning of syllables, and not pronounced at all at end
> * Pronounces Q as Standard Klingon H
> * Usually drops -’e’ from the final noun in “to
>   be” phrases (except when the subject of such phrases are emphasised)


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