Residents of various regions and territories of the Klingon Empire may be identified by the way they pronounce words---that is, by their accents. Those in the Krotmag (Qotmagh) region, for example, have characteristic ways of pronouncing the sounds b and D, as well as the vowels. In ta' Hol, b is pronounced the same as "b" in Federation Standard "bribe". In the Krotmag dialect of Klingon, however, b and m are pronounced identically, both of them sounding like Federation Standard "m" as in "mime". Thus, for example, the members of the following pairs of words sound exactly alike in the Krotmag dialect; however, they sound different in Standard Klingon:
bup ("quit")/mup ("strike")
boH ("be impatient")/moH ("be ugly")
buS ("concentrate on")/muS ("hate")
ghob ("wage war")/ghom ("meet, encounter")
qab ("face")/qam ("foot")
Qub ("think")/Qum ("communicate")
teb ("fill")/tem ("deny")
For the most part, this causes no problems for Krotmag dialect speakers. There are more homonyms (words that sound alike) in their dialect than in other dialects, but, as is the case with homonyms in general, context usually serves to clarify which word is meant. Occasionally, however, two identically pronounced words can be used in such similar contexts, raising the possibilities of at least ambiguity if not catastrophic misunderstanding, that some interesting speech patterns have developed. When there are nouns that sound alike, speakers are likely to use compound nouns (that is, use two nouns where otherwise one would do). This is probably most clearly seen with the pair of words meaning "face" and "foot," both pronounced qam (though "face" is qab in Standard Klingon). Does qamlIj vIghov mean "I recognize your foot" or "I recognize your face"? Unless the course of the discussion clearly dictates which is meant (as it might, for example, in a conversation when buying shoes, though even here the possibility for ambiguity exists), there is no way to tell. In such a situation, "foot" would probably be rendered 'uS qam (literally, "leg foot"); "face" would be nach qam (or, in the standard dialect, nach qab---literally, "head face"). Interestingly, though originally used only to avoid ambiguity with words containing m and b, these speech patterns have become quite common in the Krotmag region and are used even when m and b are not involved in the words at all. Thus, it would not be unusual to hear such utterances as DeS ghop (actually, NeS ghop---the meaning of N is explained below) meaning "arm hand" or nach ghIch ("head nose"), even though the single words ghop ("hand") and ghIch ("nose") need no disambiguation. Similarly, a house (lineage) is frequently called qorDu' tuq (actually, qorNu' tuq)---literally, "family house"--- rather than tuq ("house") alone, and a sword is often termed yan 'etlh (or even 'etlh yan)---literally, "sword sword." This manner of speaking is quite characteristic of this region.
For verbs, a somewhat different tactic is employed. In ta' Hol, there is no problem distinguishing bIboH ("You are impatient") from bImoH ("You are ugly"). In the Krotmag region, however, both are pronounced mImoH. To make the speaker's intent clear, it is not uncommon to add a short sentence immediately after the potentially ambiguous one:
mImoH. yIjotchoH. [Standard: bIboH. yIjotchoH.] ("You're impatient. Calm down!")
mImoH. 'oy' mInNu'wIj. [Standard: bImoH. 'oy' mInDu'wIj.] ("You're ugly. My eyes ache.")
Krotmag dialect speakers have a distinctive pronunciation of D as well: it sounds like n, except the tip of the tongue touches a point in the middle of the roof of the mouth rather than one behind the top teeth as it does for n. (For the sake of clarity in this discussion, the way Krotmag dialect speakers pronounce D will be written N, to distinguish it from n.) The D sound in ta' Hol is also produced with the tongue pointing upward and not near the teeth (just like N), but otherwise the D sound is similar to that of Federation Standard "d" as in "did". For speakers in the Krotmag region, the sounds n and N are distinct; the following pairs of words do not sound the same (the standard form of the second member of each pair follows in brackets):
naH ("fruit, vegetable")/NaH ("now") [DaH]
nuj ("mouth")/Nuj ("vessel") [Duj]
mIn ("eye")/mIN ("colony") [mID]
nulegh ("He/she sees us.")/Nulegh ("He/she sees you.") [Dulegh]
Though under most circumstances, speakers of the Krotmag dialect can easily distinguish between the two sounds, it is not unusual to hear a speaker add extra elements, as if to ensure clarity: maH nulegh---literally, "us, he/she sees us"; SoH Nulegh---literally, "you, he/ she sees you." This does not happen anywhere nearly as frequently as it does with words with b or m, however. Speakers of other forms of Klingon, on the other hand, find the Krotmag pronunciations of N and n to be so similar as to be indistinguishable. When trying to speak in the Krotmag manner, they tend to pronounce all words with D as if they used n instead, rather than N, making it possible for a true Krotmag speaker to differentiate a fellow resident from an outsider, but also making communication difficult. Misunderstandings, sometimes with unfortunate consequences, are not all that uncommon.
A third characteristic of the Krotmag accent is the nasal quality of the vowels, caused by the air being expelled through the mouth and nose at the same time while speaking. This in no way impedes communication with speakers of other dialects, but it does give the dialect a distinct tone.
Although the number of speakers of the dialect of the Krotmag region is relatively small, their speech patterns are well known and easily recognized and have actually had an effect on other dialects. It is not uncommon for speakers of one dialect to imitate the speech of another, whether as a way to mock the speakers of a nonstandard dialect or as a way to learn about that dialect to be prepared for a change in leadership. A bit of dialect mixture results, with words or pronunciations of one dialect being added to another. The distinctive pronunciations of the Krotmag dialect are surely responsible for some slang and idiomatic usages in Klingon in general. For example, chab chu' (literally, "new pie") is another way to say "new invention" or "latest innovation." This is no doubt because the Krotmag pronunciation of chab ("pie") is cham, the same as the word for "technology." Similarly, a slang word for "sword" is yaD (literally, "toe"), based on the Krotmag pronunciation of yaD as yaN, which to most Klingons will sound like yan ("sword").
Speaking in a manner that is sort of between that of the Krotmag region and ta' Hol are the peoples of Tak'ev (taq'ev), who, though still a minority population, greatly outnumber the residents of Krotmag. These people maintain the distinction between b and m but pronounce the b as if it were mb; that is, starting off as the m sound but ending up at a b. Similarly, D is pronounced more like nD (or, more accurately, ND). Thus ba' ("sit") would be pronounced more like mba'; Hub ("defend") would sound like Humb; Du' ("farm") would be NDu'; HoD ("captain") would be HoND; and Dub ("improve") would be NDumb. The nasal vowel quality found in the Krotmag region is characteristic of Tak'ev speech as well.
