What Is Klingon?

THIS PROGRAM IS A VIRTUAL-ONLY EVENT. REGISTER BELOW BY LEAVING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO RECEIVE LOGIN AND CALL-IN INSTRUCTIONS (SENT TO YOU ONE DAY BEFORE THE PROGRAM). 

The Klingon language, which began as a few lines of dialogue in the first Star Trek movie, has grown to be what Guinness World Records once dubbed the world’s “largest fictional language.” We’ll look at how and why the language was created, how filmmaking influenced (and altered) its grammar and vocabulary, and how the language is faring in the “real world.” 

Marc Okrand devised the Klingon language heard in Star Trek movies and television series beginning with Star Trek III: The Search For Spock in 1984 as well as dialogue in Vulcan, Romulan, Kelpien, Kwejian, and other languages heard in various Star Trek films and TV series. He also created the Atlantean language for the animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

He is the author of The Klingon Dictionary, The Klingon Way: A Warrior's Guide, and Klingon For the Galactic Traveler.  He did the translation for the Klingon opera ’u’ that premiered in The Netherlands in 2010 as well as the expanded version of the opera’s story in paq’batlh: The Klingon Epic.

He has degrees in linguistics from the Santa Cruz and Berkeley campuses of the University of California and has conducted linguistic research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  He is an associate producer of the documentary Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues.