Editing Klingon language (section)

==History==
The language is first mentioned in the original ''Star Trek'' series episode "[[The Trouble with Tribbles]]" (1967), but is not heard until ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]'' ([[1979 in film|1979]]). According to the actor who spoke the lines, [[Mark Lenard]], James Doohan recorded the lines he had written on a tape, and Lenard transcribed the recorded lines in a way he found useful in learning them.<ref name="whirlingwords">{{cite book |last1=Okrand |first1=Mark |last2=Adams |first2=Michael |last3=Hendriks-Hermans |first3=Judith |last4=Kroon |first4=Sjaak |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Adams |title=From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=December 1, 2011 |pages=111–134 |chapter=Wild and Whirling Words: The Invention and Use of Klingon |isbn=978-0-192-80709-0}}</ref>

For ''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock]]'' ([[1984 in film|1984]]), director [[Leonard Nimoy]] and writer-producer [[Harve Bennett]] wanted the Klingons to speak a structured language instead of random [[gibberish]], and so commissioned a full language, based on the phrases Doohan had originated, from Marc Okrand, who had earlier constructed four lines of [[Vulcan (Star Trek)|Vulcan]] dialogue for ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''.<ref name="whirlingwords" /><ref name="Okrent">{{cite book |first=Arika |last=Okrent |author-link=Arika Okrent |title=In the Land of Invented Languages |publisher=Spiegel & Grau |year=2009 |isbn=9780385527880 |url=https://archive.org/details/inlandofinvented00okre }}</ref>{{rp|pages=266–267}}

Okrand enlarged the lexicon and developed a grammar based on Doohan's original dozen words. The language appeared intermittently in later films featuring the original cast; for example, in ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]]'' ([[1989 in film|1989]]) and in ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]'' ([[1991 in film|1991]]), where [[translation]] difficulties served as a [[plot device]].<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Special Edition) DVD-special feature, text commentary}}</ref>

Two "non-canon" dialects of Klingon are hinted at in the novelization of ''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock]]'', as [[Saavik]] speaks in Klingon to the only Klingon officer aboard Cpt. Kruge's starship after his death, as the survivors of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|''Enterprise'']]'s self-destruction transport up from the crumbling Genesis Planet to the Klingon ship. The surviving officer, [[List of Star Trek characters (G–M)#Maltz|Maltz]], states that he speaks the ''Rumaiy'' dialect, while Saavik is speaking to him in the ''Kumburan'' dialect of Klingon, per Maltz's spoken reply to her.<ref>{{cite book |title=Star Trek III: The Search for Spock |last=McIntyre |first=Vonda |year=1984 |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=0-671-49500-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/startrekiiisearc2004mcin/page/272 272] |url=https://archive.org/details/startrekiiisearc2004mcin/page/272 }}</ref>

With the advent of the series ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' (1987)—in which one of the main characters, [[Worf]], was a Klingon—and successors, the language and various cultural aspects for the fictional species were expanded. In the episode "[[A Matter of Honor]]", several members of a Klingon ship's crew speak a language that is not translated for the benefit of the viewer (even Commander Riker, enjoying the benefits of a [[universal translator]], is unable to understand) until one Klingon orders the others to "speak their [i.e., human] language".<ref name="MatterOfHonor">{{cite web |url=http://chakoteya.net/NextGen/134.htm |title=A Matter of Honor |website=Chakoteya.net |access-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-date=November 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124162243/http://chakoteya.net/NextGen/134.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

A small number of non-Klingon characters were later depicted in ''Star Trek'' as having learned to speak Klingon, notably [[Jean-Luc Picard]] and [[Dax (Star Trek)|Dax]].<ref name="MatterOfHonor" />