I little mess up....K!t

[luv2read]

okay, am reading the second yw book,paperback, and I'm only half way though and almost every time kits name is in the book, i turns into !, it has happen in a few other words too, but only with i's. Is and body eles having this problem?

[Lamarquise]

That's simply an indication of how the whales pronounce Kit's name. From what I understand, mammals that live in water like whales and dolphins talk to each other mostly in clicks and singing, but can't manage some vowels like the "i" in Kit's name well. The ! is just a signal that they left the vowel out to make Kit's name pronounceable for them.

Good luck!

[Gigo]

*laughs softly* Lamarquise's got it.

We see several variations of Kit and Nita's name throughout the series, as well.

*throws more ninja sai at Poot*

[Estreya]

I listened to all of the YW books as audio books. This book (DW) in particular was fabulous as an audio book! Christina Moore does a great job with the names in the whale dialect. I can't imagine I could have even come close! You can find the audio books on CD or tape, or here at Audible.com as an MP3 file.

[Kathy Li]

Errr... actually, Lamarquise might be wrong. I think DD was going for something much more specific.

! in IPA (the international phonetic alphabet) is the sign for a post alveolar click, which only exists in some African dialects (go watch The Gods Must be Crazy if you want to hear one).

So, "K!t" means the whales are "clicking" Kit's name as K-[click]-T.

[Lamarquise]

Well whaddya know... Thanks, kli6! Guess I'm not that much of a linguist.

[luv2read]

thanks...I just thought it was werid when it said "k!t said" It did it that way when the whales weren't pronuncing it...and if it is that way, why is nitas so different...?

[alla]

Different name, different pronounciation. I have a feeling that it would have a lot to do with Nita's name in the speech too. Or it may be that its sort of the equavalent of 'Neets'. I always thought that Nita's whale name was pronounced something similar to that.

Alla

[Kathy Li]

Personally, I think it's more of the physical limitations of the sounds a whale can make. Just as "Susan" becomes transliterated into its Ailuran approximate by Rhiow in TBoNwM.

[the_peridexis]

actually, i think it's more like this; you know how whales "sing"? well, the ! is to say that when they reach a particularly high note, you stress that part of the word.

[Shea]

Yeah, it's just the whales pronouncing his name differently, they did the same thing with Nita.