The sounds of 'a' and 'o'

[melmaqngan]

While I understand that Marc Okrand's pronunciation is ta' Hol, I have a different pronunciation for a and o

How do you pronounce the 'o' in mosaic (the key word for o in TKD)? is it like the one in moss or in mosey?

My personal pronunciation is somewhere between the two. Likewise, my a lies somewhere between math and Mars. My a and o sound like the ones in the word amigo if it were uttered by a native Spanish speaker. (American English tends to pronounce it 'uh-mee-goh').

So why this aberration? I personally feel that the English a and o are too genteel for something like the Klingon language. This is not to say that Spanish, etc., isn't. I just think using it in Klingon makes it sound too Anglicized/Terranized. In fact, if you listen closely, some actors playing Klingons do use the non-English sounds. 

[Qunchuy]

How do you pronounce the 'o' in mosaic (the key word for o in TKD)? is it like the one in moss or in mosey?

Try Moses. I'd be wary of using as an example the speech of anyone would say the word "mosey". 

So why this aberration?

I don't understand the question. Are you asking why your vowels do not match the typical English speaker's accent? I can't answer that.

[Kesvirit]

Qunchuy:   I don't understand the question. Are you asking why your vowels do not match the typical English speaker's accent? I can't answer that.

The one oversimplifies the issue. Surely you know that there is no typical English speakers’ accent. The isolation of different populations of speakers have lead to sound values going every which way.... Add to this the result of historical British and US imperialism and the development of new communications technologies, and English has become a lingua franca in most corners of the world. There is no one “American” accent any more than there is on “British” accent. See this page on American accents and vowel shifts. (Yes, it’s a wiki, but it covers a lot of material in one easy-to-understand page.)

I believe an answer to melmaqngan’s question lies in his(?) question: the words are pronounced as Okrand pronounces them. No wonder thlIngan Hol sounds too Anglicized/Terranized. Determine Okrand’s regional/area accent and you will have an answer.

melmaqngan:   I personally feel that the English a and o are too genteel for something like the Klingon language. This is not to say that Spanish, etc., isn't. I just think using it in Klingon makes it sound too Anglicized/Terranized. In fact, if you listen closely, some actors playing Klingons do use the non-English sounds.

I think the reason why some actors playing Klingons use non-English sounds is more an artifact of having to learn unfamiliar sounds very fast than because the actor in question is a non-native English speaker. Weekly programs have tight production and rehearsal schedules, and with everything else the actors have to learn anew for each episode, they are not going to have the time to polish their pronunciation.

That, and the producers don’t bother with a thlIngan language coach any more than they bother with scientific consultants. }}: /