Klingon Language

The Klingon language (tlhIngan Hol, pronounced /ˈt͡ɬɪŋɑn xol/) is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe.

Deliberately designed by Marc Okrand to be "alien", it has a number of typologically uncommon features. The language's basic sound, along with a few words, was first devised by actor James Doohan ("Scotty") for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That film marked the first time the language had been heard on screen. In all previous appearances, Klingons spoke in English. Klingon was subsequently developed by Okrand into a full-fledged language.

Klingon is sometimes referred to as Klingonese (most notably in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles", where it was actually pronounced by a Klingon character as "Klingonee" /klɪŋɡoni/) but, among the Klingon-speaking community, this is often understood to refer to another Klingon language called Klingonaase that was introduced in John M. Ford's 1988 Star Trek novel The Final Reflection, and appears in other Star Trek novels by Ford. A shorthand version of Klingonaase, and later with the same term adopted by tlhIngan Hol itself, is called "battle language", or "Clipped Klingon".

The Klingon Christmas Carol play is the first production that is primarily in Klingon (only the narrator speaks English). The opera 'u' is entirely in Klingon.

A small number of people are capable of conversing in Klingon. Its vocabulary, heavily centered on Star Trek-Klingon concepts such as spacecraft or warfare, can sometimes make it cumbersome for everyday use.