NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example ABOUT | NA’VITERI.ORG About. Na’viteri means “Concerning Na’vi.”. It’s a personal blog about all aspects of Na’vi, the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.”. The author is Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall

School of

MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words?

NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example ABOUT | NA’VITERI.ORG About. Na’viteri means “Concerning Na’vi.”. It’s a personal blog about all aspects of Na’vi, the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.”. The author is Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall

School of

MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words? SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. VOSPXÌVOPEYÄ AYLÌ’U AMIP NOVEMBER’S NEW WORDS Vospxìvopeyä aylì’u amip November’s new words. Kaltxì, ma frapo. Krrka lekye’unga faysrr, sìlpey oe, livu ayngaru fpom nìwotx. It’s been a while since we’ve had any new vocabulary, so here are some lexical items along with a few idiomatic expressions that I hope you’ll find useful. KELTRRTRRA TÌ’EYLAN AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP Keltrrtrra Tì’eylan An Unusual Friendship. For our next listening exercise, I’m delighted to present a story written and recorded by Plumps aka Stefan. As you’ll see, it’s about a tì’eylan azey —a special friendship. Fpìl oe, fìvur zayawprrte’ ayngane! A VERY QUICK HEADS-UP: PAUL AND NA’VI ON THE BBC TODAY Kxì ma frapo, I just found out that the half-hour BBC radio show on how a language begins, for which I was interviewed a couple weeks ago, is about to be broadcast. THOUGHTS ON AMBIGUITY A couple of questions have come up regarding ambiguous structures in Na’vi that I thought would make a good topic for the first post in the Language Discussion section—Tìpängkxo leLì’fya—for intermediate and advanced learners. Note: These kinds of posts may be somewhat discursive, and I won’t hesitate to talk about general language issues in addition to specific aspects of Na’vi. TSON SÌ FPOMRON—OBLIGATION AND MENTAL HEALTH A tson is a duty, task, obligation, etc. that’s imposed on you by someone in a position to do so—that is, someone with some kind of authority over you or who is higher than you in some relevant hierarchy. It could be a parent, an older sibling, a boss, a clan leader, Eywa, and so on. The imposer of the obligation is indicated

with ta.

VOCABULARY UPDATE

Vocabulary update. Posted on July 16, 2010 by Pawl. Today’s post provides some new vocabulary, mostly from the A-priority list of the LEP (Lexical Expansion Project), along with a few usage notes. In the abbreviations indicating parts of speech, VT and VI MRRVOLA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—FORTY NEW EXPRESSIONS Kaltxì nìmun, ma eylan! And hello again. Tse. . . it’s been a while. 🙂 I hope you’ve all been healthy and happy during my temporary absence from the blog.And I hope you’ll find the approximately 40 new words and expressions below useful. Before anything else, though, I want to congratulate the organizers of

AvatarMeet 2016.

’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words? AYLÌ’U A TA “EYWA’EVENG: KIFKEY UNILTÌRANTOKXÄ”—WORDS

FROM

Irayo ma ayoeyä Karyu! Faylì’u amip sunu oer nìtxan. Ayoel ‘en si ralit slä ngal pumit kangay si a fì’u oeru prrte’ lu. I was the one who sent a mail about this some time ago.

NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example ABOUT | NA’VITERI.ORG About. Na’viteri means “Concerning Na’vi.”. It’s a personal blog about all aspects of Na’vi, the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.”. The author is Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall

School of

MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words?

NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example ABOUT | NA’VITERI.ORG About. Na’viteri means “Concerning Na’vi.”. It’s a personal blog about all aspects of Na’vi, the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.”. The author is Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall

School of

MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words? SÄTARE AKELTRRTRR AN UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP Kxì, ma frapo! For the next installment in our series of author-read Na’vi compositions, I’m delighted to present Part 1 of an affecting story by Tsm. VOSPXÌVOPEYÄ AYLÌ’U AMIP NOVEMBER’S NEW WORDS Vospxìvopeyä aylì’u amip November’s new words. Kaltxì, ma frapo. Krrka lekye’unga faysrr, sìlpey oe, livu ayngaru fpom nìwotx. It’s been a while since we’ve had any new vocabulary, so here are some lexical items along with a few idiomatic expressions that I hope you’ll find useful. KELTRRTRRA TÌ’EYLAN AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP Keltrrtrra Tì’eylan An Unusual Friendship. For our next listening exercise, I’m delighted to present a story written and recorded by Plumps aka Stefan. As you’ll see, it’s about a tì’eylan azey —a special friendship. Fpìl oe, fìvur zayawprrte’ ayngane! A VERY QUICK HEADS-UP: PAUL AND NA’VI ON THE BBC TODAY Kxì ma frapo, I just found out that the half-hour BBC radio show on how a language begins, for which I was interviewed a couple weeks ago, is about to be broadcast. THOUGHTS ON AMBIGUITY A couple of questions have come up regarding ambiguous structures in Na’vi that I thought would make a good topic for the first post in the Language Discussion section—Tìpängkxo leLì’fya—for intermediate and advanced learners. Note: These kinds of posts may be somewhat discursive, and I won’t hesitate to talk about general language issues in addition to specific aspects of Na’vi. TSON SÌ FPOMRON—OBLIGATION AND MENTAL HEALTH A tson is a duty, task, obligation, etc. that’s imposed on you by someone in a position to do so—that is, someone with some kind of authority over you or who is higher than you in some relevant hierarchy. It could be a parent, an older sibling, a boss, a clan leader, Eywa, and so on. The imposer of the obligation is indicated

with ta.

VOCABULARY UPDATE

Vocabulary update. Posted on July 16, 2010 by Pawl. Today’s post provides some new vocabulary, mostly from the A-priority list of the LEP (Lexical Expansion Project), along with a few usage notes. In the abbreviations indicating parts of speech, VT and VI MRRVOLA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—FORTY NEW EXPRESSIONS Kaltxì nìmun, ma eylan! And hello again. Tse. . . it’s been a while. 🙂 I hope you’ve all been healthy and happy during my temporary absence from the blog.And I hope you’ll find the approximately 40 new words and expressions below useful. Before anything else, though, I want to congratulate the organizers of

AvatarMeet 2016.

’A’AWA LÌ’FYAVI AMIP—A FEW NEW EXPRESSIONS 1. Weeks and months. As you know, the days of the ’Rrtan week are: Trr’awve Sunday Trrmuve Monday Trrpxeyve Tuesday Trrtsìve Wednesday Trrmrrve Thursday Trrpuve Friday Trrkive Saturday. But what about “week” itself and related words? AYLÌ’U A TA “EYWA’EVENG: KIFKEY UNILTÌRANTOKXÄ”—WORDS

FROM

Irayo ma ayoeyä Karyu! Faylì’u amip sunu oer nìtxan. Ayoel ‘en si ralit slä ngal pumit kangay si a fì’u oeru prrte’ lu. I was the one who sent a mail about this some time ago.

NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is KELTRRTRRA TÌ’EYLAN AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP Keltrrtrra Tì’eylan An Unusual Friendship. For our next listening exercise, I’m delighted to present a story written and recorded by Plumps aka Stefan. As you’ll see, it’s about a tì’eylan azey —a special friendship. Fpìl oe, fìvur zayawprrte’ ayngane! AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì ’AWA TSKXEKENGTSYÌP A MIKYUNFPI NÌ’UL Ma smuk, Sìlpey oe, ayngaru vivar livu fpom nìwotx. Here’s the last listening exercise of the current batch, this time from our Mako. It’s a brief message encouraging you to do something. WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ZÌSÌT AMIP LEFPOM, MA EYLAN! HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS! The ‘flag’ discussion is interesting and topical, as I had a chance last summer to translate something that had to do with flags, and the interesting term vexiologist came up, which means ;one who studies flags’. That same translation project also involved some mathematic ratios of area, which thankfully you have covered in the

past 🙂

NA’VITERI.ORG

A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example MIPA AYLÌ’U, MIPA SÌOEYKTÌNG NEW WORDS, NEW EXPLANATIONS That’s a good question, ma Tekre—actually, one I was asking myself. Since -tu sometimes (but not always) represents the agent of a verb, there can be overlap between it and –yu, which always represents the agent.When this occurs, the -tu form is generally preferred over the -yu form.. But I’m thinking that at times, both forms might be valid, with a subtle difference between them. MIPA AYLÌ’U SÌ AYLÌ’FYAVI NEW WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS These words and expressions reflect the environment and culture of the Na’vi and give the language much of its uniqueness. All that being said, let’s move on to today’s new words and expressions: pe’ ngay (vin., pe’.NGAY, inf. 1, 1) ‘judge, conclude’. This word derives from pe’un ‘decide’ + ngay ‘true.’. To draw a QUICK FOLLOW-UP TO THE LAST POST A bit more on -tu:. As we discussed, when -tu is attached to a verb, it sometimes indicates the person who is the object of the verb (like spe’etu and kiantu) and sometimes the subject (like snaytu and yora’tu).It may seem strange and unnatural that the same suffix can have two different and opposite functions. But in fact this kind of thing occurs in Earth languages as well—for example AUDIO AND VIDEO LEARNING MATERIALS FOR NA’VI 101! Video duration: 12mins 54sec. Description: Part 2: Kaltxì /Hello. In the second part we go through the first of a number of Na’vi conversations covered in this series: how to greet someone in Na’vi. Also covered is the placement of stress in words and the fact that Na’vi word order is KELTRRTRRA TÌ’EYLAN AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP Keltrrtrra Tì’eylan An Unusual Friendship. For our next listening exercise, I’m delighted to present a story written and recorded by Plumps aka Stefan. As you’ll see, it’s about a tì’eylan azey —a special friendship. Fpìl oe, fìvur zayawprrte’ ayngane! AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì ’AWA TSKXEKENGTSYÌP A MIKYUNFPI NÌ’UL Ma smuk, Sìlpey oe, ayngaru vivar livu fpom nìwotx. Here’s the last listening exercise of the current batch, this time from our Mako. It’s a brief message encouraging you to do something. WAY TIRETUÄ—THE SHAMAN’S SONG Way Tiretuä—The Shaman’s Song. Over at LearnNavi.org., some folks took a stab at transcribing the Shaman’s Song that’s heard in Mo’ara. Understanding sung lyrics isn’t easy. If you’re like me, you’ve often had to look up the lyrics to songs you find on the Internet, even if they’re in your own language, since it can be hard ZÌSÌT AMIP LEFPOM, MA EYLAN! HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS! The ‘flag’ discussion is interesting and topical, as I had a chance last summer to translate something that had to do with flags, and the interesting term vexiologist came up, which means ;one who studies flags’. That same translation project also involved some mathematic ratios of area, which thankfully you have covered in the

past 🙂

ABOUT | NA’VITERI.ORG About. Na’viteri means “Concerning Na’vi.”. It’s a personal blog about all aspects of Na’vi, the language of the inhabitants of Pandora in James Cameron’s seminal film, “Avatar.”. The author is Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the University of Southern California’s Marshall

School of

VOSPXÌVOPEYÄ AYLÌ’U AMIP NOVEMBER’S NEW WORDS Vospxìvopeyä aylì’u amip November’s new words. Kaltxì, ma frapo. Krrka lekye’unga faysrr, sìlpey oe, livu ayngaru fpom nìwotx. It’s been a while since we’ve had any new vocabulary, so here are some lexical items along with a few idiomatic expressions that I hope you’ll find useful. ’AWA TSKXEKENGTSYÌP A MIKYUNFPI NÌ’UL Ma smuk, Sìlpey oe, ayngaru vivar livu fpom nìwotx. Here’s the last listening exercise of the current batch, this time from our Mako. It’s a brief message encouraging you to do something. ULTE AYYORA’TU LEIU . . . AND THE WINNERS ARE . . . Ma eylan, The judges have made their decisions, and the winners of the 2020 Säwäsultsyìp—the Na’vi Writing Contest announced here on March 27 th —have been chosen! The judging committee—Tirea Aean, Alyara, and Plumps—worked independently, but in the end, though “the scoring was very, very close,” they reached a unanimous

decision.

AYSÌPAWM SÌ AYSÌ’EYNG QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Irayo, ma T.A. Txantsana sìpawm, nìfrakrr. So yes, my thinking has evolved on this question since 2010. At this point I’d change only one word in the earlier pronouncement that you linked to: must –> may.That is, “For more than two adjectives, or if you want to place both adjectives on the same side, they may be pulled out into an attributive clause with lu: yayo a lu lor sì hì’ì TÌPUSAWM, TÌ’USEYNG, SÌ ’OKVUR A ELTUR TÌTXEN SI—ASKING Well, if ’eyng were transitive, then ’eyng tì’eyngit analogous to pawm tìpawmit would be quite likely. Since it’s not, however, we have to use another verb, as you’ve rightly indicated. At first I was wondering if peng was the best choice, but now I’m thinking it may be just that: when you tell someone something, you’re informing them about something they don’t already know. MORE LANGUAGE FOR TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE Fyape pängkxo fko teri lì’fya leNa’vi . . . nìNa’vi? Tse . . . nì’awve fkol kin aylì’ut azey. To talk about Na’vi in Na’vi, we need some specialized vocabulary.We already have a start. ’A’AWA LÌ’U SÌ LÌ’FYAVI AMIP. A FEW NEW WORDS AND Ayngeyä säsrese’a lolu eyawr! 😃. säsrese’a (n., sä.sre.se.’ A) ‘a prediction’ Your question is a good one. There is indeed some overlap between ngay and lefkeytongay.For example, tsyeym angay ‘a true treasure’ and tsyeym lefketongay ‘a real treasure’ are pretty much the same. In general, however, ngay ‘true’ is usually the opposite of ‘false,’ and so is used

to

AYLÌ’U A TA “EYWA’EVENG: KIFKEY UNILTÌRANTOKXÄ”—WORDS

FROM

Irayo ma ayoeyä Karyu! Faylì’u amip sunu oer nìtxan. Ayoel ‘en si ralit slä ngal pumit kangay si a fì’u oeru prrte’ lu. I was the one who sent a mail about this some time ago. ZÌSÌKRR AMIP, AYLÌ’U AMIP—NEW WORDS FOR THE NEW SEASON Zìsìkrr amip, aylì’u amip—New words for the new season. Kaltxì nìmun, ma eylan. It’s been a while! I hope you’ve all been happy and healthy—and doing interesting, satisfying, fun things. As for me, you can guess what’s been occupying my time more and more. Tìkangkem anawm sngolä’eiyi!

NA’VITERI.ORG

Ziva’u nìprrte’ fte nivume!

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MIPA AYEWLL, MIPA AYIOANG—NEW PLANTS, NEW ANIMALS Posted on July 31, 2019

by Pawl

This post containing some new Pandoran plants and animals is based mostly on the diligent and excellent work of our own Txawey, who clearly devoted many hours to making this information easily available to the community. If I might quote what he wrote in his post to

LearnNa’vi.org:

“As some of you may know, I was recently in Mo’ara for a period on vacation with my family. While there, I downloaded the Play Disney app on a whim and found a game for Mo’ara while waiting in line. Said game had a decently large Pandorapedia, so I figured why not take a look at it! After I was finished, I found several new entries for things we didn’t have before. Since they were all on my phone, I took screenshots (over 200!) and figured why not type them up into a document, so here they are!” Txawey’s 200+ screenshots, where you’ll be able to find pictures of all these flora and fauna, can be found here

.

I’ll add some information on pronunciation and etymology, but the descriptions are taken from the Play Disney Pandorapedia, as typed up for us by Txawey. _Ngeyä fìtìkangkemìri a kosman seiyi irayo nìtxan, ma tsmuk! _

FLORA

FYÌPMAUT (n., FYÌP.ma.ut) ‘squid fruit tree’ This comes from _fyìp_+ _mauti _‘fruit’ FYÌP (n.) ‘tendril, tentacle’ NOTE: Although in careful pronunciation this word has three syllables, colloquially it’s usually pronounced with two: FYÌP.mawt _Taxonomy_: _Octocrus Folliculus_ _Anatomy_: A massive jungle tree that produces a large seed-pod covered in spiny blue protrusions. The seed pod is also notable for its eight 60cm-long tentacle-like fruit stalks that grow from the

bottom.

_Ecology_: A staple of the Na’vi diet, the fruit harvested from the squid fruit tree is very versatile and can be prepared in many ways. _Ethnobotany_: Eaten raw, these tubular fruits have a consistency of a mid 20th-century Terran fruit snack and has a slightly salty rhubarb like taste. The fruit can also be cut into wheels and dried and cured into a portable fruit-leather that Na’vi travelers often take with them on long journeys. KOAKTUTRAL (n., ko.AK.tut.ral) ’goblin thistle’ Comes from _koaktu _‘old person’ + _utral _‘tree’ So named because of the hunched shape and stooped appearance of the tree. (NOTE: There’s a typo in the Disney Pandorapedia entry: the final l is missing. I’ll notify them and hopefully the error can be

corrected.)

_Taxonomy_: _Cobalus Carduus_ _Size_: Growing up to 4m high, spread of 3.5-4m _Anatomy_: Growing in a hunched shape and supported by prop roots and topped with passiflora, the stooped appearance of the goblin thistle is prevalent during the bioluminescence of the evening. Its leaves are a bluish color, and its trunk is twisted and a brownish-grayish color. _Ecology_: The passiflora topped goblin tree grows in a hunched shape and is supported by propped roots. During the bioluminescence of the evening, the stooped appearance of the thistle is more pronounced. _Ethnobotany_: There are at least 12 goblin thistles in Mo’ara. LANUTRAL (n., LA.nut.ral) ‘dandetiger’ Comes from _lan_+ _utral_ LAN (n.) ‘resin’ _Taxonomy_: _Candea Inflata_ _Size_: 12-15m tall, slender trunk of 0.5-1m, crown of tree is

3.5-4.6m.

_Anatomy_: Large tree with inflated trunk, elaborate bark, and long, slender tubular leaves in a cluster at the crown. Produces abundant resin in the trunk, which accumulates in leaf tips. When resin builds up, leaf tips glow brightly, indicating that resin will be released. _Ecology_: Serves important ecosystem function by absorbing atmospheric toxins, which combine with plant oils to produce resin. _Ethnobotany_: Resin is collected for use as an adhesive by Na’vi. PAYSYUL (n., PAY.syul) ‘water lily’ Comes from _pay _‘water’ + _syulang _‘flower’ _Taxonomy_: Inrigo Lilliam _Anatomy_: Large and multi-colored with bisected petals and a distended, vein pod like bulb/stigma. Can be found in standing and running fresh-water locations throughout Pandora. _Ecology_: This lovely, freshwater flower has such an alluring scent and such a colorful array of petals that it’s a natural attractant for small river fauna. The Na’vi often string their woven nets underneath the flower in shallow waters to easily snare small fish. _Ethnobotany_: After careful study, the Xenobiologists and Ethnobotanists from Earth witnessed the Na’vi using the inrigo lilliam as floating bait stations. Industrious adolescent Na’vi will go down to local lakes, rivers, and streams where the inrigo lilliam are found, dive into the waters with their tackle, and string woven nets underneath the shallow waters where the flower lie. With patience, these young Na’vi hunters are able to easily snare small fish and shellfish that come to feed off the aquatic root systems of

the plant.

RUMAUT (n. RU.ma.ut) ‘cannonball fruit tree’ From _rum _‘ball’ + _mauti _‘fruit’ Note: Similarly to _fyìpmaut_, this word is colloquially pronounced RU.mawt. This tree is easily confused with the very similar-sounding _rumut _‘puffball tree.’ The two trees are different. _Taxonomy_: _Ecdurus Putamen Pomus_ _Size_: Fruit is roughly 70cm long _Anatomy_: Deciduous, fruit-bearing tree in the Valley of Mo’ara. Its fruit has an ombre-coloring of yellow to orange to red to purple and is decidedly one of the most difficult fruits to eat on Pandora. The fruit from this tree is likened to the Terran coconut. _Ecology_: When fully ripe, the cannonball fruit is a multi-colored pod that has an incredibly thick and tough outer husk. Na’vi harvesters will prepare their party for harvesting the cannonball fruit and begin the arduous task of cracking the outer husk to retrieve the succulent and sweet meat inside. _Ethnobotany_: The Cannonball tree gets its name from the peculiar way the Na’vi interact with its titular fruit. The most common way of getting to the fruit is to climb to the highest height of the cannonball tree and launch the fruit from the highest branch. With the right velocity, the husk will crack and the Na’vi will be able to insert sharpened branches and crack open the shell to reveal the fruit

inside.

TSAWKSYUL (n., TSAWK.syul) ‘sun lily’ From _tsawke _‘sun’ + _syulang _‘flower’ _Taxonomy_: _Stella Lilliam_ _Size_: Flower up to 2m in height _Anatomy_: Flower has primarily yellow petals, giving the opened flower a vaguely sun-like appearance. Other specimens have petals cut through with vibrant hues of magenta and cyan. _Ecology_: A hearty multi-petalled bloom, this sun-loving flower is a common sight throughout the Valley of Mo’ara. _Ethnobotany_: Ethnobotanists from Earth have found that this lovely flower (amongst other similar flora) is commonly used by Na’vi to create necklaces, rings, and other personal ornaments. TUMPASUK (n., TUM.pa.suk) ’celia fruit tree’ From _tun _‘red-orange’ + _pasuk _‘berry’ Note that while the primary stress is on the first syllable TUM, there’s secondary stress on PA. The stress pattern is the same as in the English word “strawberry.” _Taxonomy_: _Pampinus Bacca Acinum_ _Anatomy_: Multi-trunked, deciduous tree with long, hanging vines from which grow massive seed pods. _Ecology_: Squat, thick-trunked tree with multiple thick branches. It produces a 30cm long bulbous pod that holds a tendril-like strand of edible seeds/berries. A common food source for tetrapteron and

prolemuris.

_Ethnobotany_: The Na’vi gather the seed berries by climbing into the trees, dangling upside-down from the branches and cutting the strand out of the pod from the inside. Another Na’vi will be under the pod on the ground and will catch the falling seed berry strand in a woven net to not damage the ripe fruit.

FAUNA

FYUATX (n., fyu.ATX) ‘anemonoid’ _Size_: Up to 2m in diameter _Anatomy_: Invertebrate with small toxic tentacles for feeding. Bioluminescence in myriad of pastel colors. _Ecology_: Small fish are attracted by bioluminescence into tentacles

and eaten.

LORTSYAL (n., LOR.tsyal) ‘shimmyfly’ From _lor_ ‘beautiful’ + _tsyal_ ‘wing’ _Size_: Average size of up to 1m wingspan _Anatomy_: Eight-winged insect with long antennae. Its body is built like Terran insects and divided into a head and thorax. The abdomen portion of the shimmyfly is constructed of two smaller vane-like hindwings and a long rudder-like tail. _Ecology_: An iridescent and glimmering Pandoran version of the terran Lepidoptera (butterfly), this delicate creature gracefully flies through the Valley of Mo’ara on multiple glowing, almost crystalline

wings.

NALUTSA (n., na.LU.tsa) _Size_: Average size of up to 40m long _Anatomy_: Massive and armored with no visible dorsal fin, a single set of flippers and a long tail ending in jagged and flared flukes. A massive set of jaws that contain sword-length teeth for rending and tearing prey. Plated exoskeleton, not dissimilar to the shell of a

turtle.

_Ecology_: A cousin of the more elusive and fierce akula, this six-gilled ocean behemoth can be seen leaping out of the near-shore waters. Birthing and parenting behaviors are not dissimilar to those of orca whales on Earth. SKUKA (n., SKU.ka) ‘sagittaria’ _Size_: Average length of 1.2m _Anatomy_: Cephalopod-like with 14 muscular tentacles, 10 radiating out from the underside of the body, primarily for locomotion, and four near the mouth for prey attraction and feeding. A large nautilus-like shell houses the body, which can retract fully for protection. _Ecology_: A predator, this cephalopod-type creature has a hard exterior which is exposed to the air. Long tentacles float calmly in the water. The means of hunting prey, which mostly consists of small flying creatures, is highly specialized and unique. SRAKAT (n., SRA.kat). ‘dinicthoid’ _Size_: Up to 1m long _Anatomy_: Semi-transparent body revealing spinal column and inner organs. Heavily armored with triangular, blade-like teeth. _Ecology_: Voracious predator. Because of fierceness and thick armor composed of cartilage, it can feed on both smaller and larger fish. Can also feed on plant life, including fallen seeds and pods. TSIKI (n., TSI.ki) ‘reef tick’ _Size_: Average size of 60 cm _Anatomy_: A multi-segmented underwater insect with four legs, two large main eyes, and two smaller eyes. This creature has smaller leg-like appendages near its mouth that act as feeding mandibles and are normally iridescent in color ranging in hues of bright metallic

greens and blues.

_Ecology_: This bottom feeder, like the Terran moray eel to the great white shark, has a symbiotic relationship with the sagittaria. What scraps the sagittaria leaves from their own feeding, the reef tick

will eat.

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TSKXEKENGTSYÌP A MIKYUNFPI 2—A LITTLE LISTENING EXERCISE 2 Posted on June 30, 2019

by Pawl

_Kaltxì nìmun, ma frapo_. We’re overdue for some listening exercises! I’d like to begin posting these periodically to give us all some additional practice in understanding spoken Na’vi. Today’s little exercise is from a rich source—the masterful and exciting European Na’vi radio play that was recently completed and posted to YouTube. I’ll provide the links below to the various versions of the play, in which you can hear the narration in Na’vi, English, or German, along with reading subtitles in those three languages and Dutch. _Irayo nìtxan tok Europat a eylanur a fìtìkangkemvit alor ngolop!_ In the excerpt below, you’ll hear the opening narration, which sets the scene of the drama. Below is some information, and some questions, that should help your comprehension. I would suggest that you first listen to the Na’vi several times without looking at the text to see how much you can understand. Then look at the Na’vi text while listening to the audio to see how much more you can get. Finally, check the English translation.

PROPER NAMES

LEYORTA: the name of a Na’vi clan SÌNATX, LENEY, NÌNU: three individual Na’vi.

QUESTIONS:

* What role does Sìnatx play in the clan? * What’s going on in the clan? * Is the situation getting better or worse? * What does Sìnatx decide? * Who is going on the quest, and why were they chosen? * What is the object of the quest? Here is the Na’vi narration from the radio play, at a relatively fast speed, with background music:

Audio Player

00:00

00:00

00:00

Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. Here is the same Na’vi narration, slower and without background

music.

Audio Player

00:00

00:00

00:00

Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. This is the Na’vi text: Na’vi text And this is the English translation: English text How well did you do? If this exercise has whetted your appetite for the complete play, here are the various versions on YouTube: With Na’vi narration With English narration With German narration Subtitles in four languages are available for all these versions. Finally, I’ve been asked to remind everyone about something I believe we all understand and acknowledge. This radio play, like all fan-created work, is not an official Avatar effort and not canon. Moreover, creators of such work have no ownership rights to plot points, story lines, or character descriptions. We’ll have more listening exercises soon—and with different

speakers!

_Hayalovay!_

EDIT 01 JULY: _FÌTÌKANGKEMIT –> FÌTÌKANGKEMVIT_ EDIT 05 JULY: FIRST RECORDING REPLACED WITH A MUCH CLEARER VERSION. IRAYO NÌTXAN, MA ANDI! Posted in General | 6

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�50A LÌ’U AMIP! 40 NEW WORDS! Posted on June 6, 2019

by

Pawl

_Kaltxì, ma frapo! _I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the

lead-up to summer.

It’s been a while.  But it’s good to be back. To start to make up for lost time, here are 40 new words and expressions that I hope you’ll find useful. Some of these were taken from or inspired by the last LEP submission, some were new terms from the wonderful European radio play, and some were just some items I’ve been meaning

to share with you.

To begin, here are some terms having to do with unpleasant situations. (I hope you don’t have to use them often!) ’ASAP (n., ’A.sap) ‘sudden shock’ Fwa tse’a peyä tìfkeytokit lefkrr lolängu oer ’asap nìngay. ‘It was a real shock to me to see him in his current condition.’ ’ASAP SI (vin.) ‘be shocked, be startled’ Oe ’asap soli krra tsafmawnit stawm. ’I was startled when I heard the news.’ FE’PEY (vin., fe’.PEY, inf. 2, 2) ‘feel dread, expect something bad to happen, fear’ This is the negative counterpart to SÌLPEY ‘hope.’ When you hope, you expect or wait for something good to happen. When you dread, you expect or wait for something bad. Krra pähem Sawtute, pxaya Na’vi fe’parmey. ‘When the Sky People arrived, many Na’vi felt dread.’ As with _sìlpey_, we use _tsnì _‘that’ to talk about feeling dread or fearing that something bad will or won’t happen: Po fe’poley tsnì ’itan sneyä tìfmetokit ke emzìyeva’u. ‘He feared his son might not pass the test.’ KETRÌP (adj., KET.rìp) ‘unfortunate, inauspicious’ This is obviously the opposite of _etrìp _‘favorable,

auspicious.’

Nga ketrìpa krr zola’u; Ralu set sti ulte ke new ngahu pivängkxo. ‘You came at the wrong time; Ralu is angry and won’t speak with

you.’

TXANSNGUM (n., txan.SNGUM) ‘desperation; feeling of great worry’ TXANSNGUM SI (vin.) ‘feel desperate’ Ke lu syuve ulte tute apxay txansngum si. ‘There is no food, and many people are desperate.’ TSKAWR (vin.) ‘limp’ Oel tseri futa nga tskawr. Srake ngal venut tìsraw seykoli? ’I see you’re limping. Did you hurt your foot?’ TXAVÄ’ (adj., txa.VÄ’) ‘disgusting’ This general term derives from _txan_+ _vä’ _‘unpleasant to the senses,’ where over time the n of _txan _has dropped. But as in English, its use is wider than just for sensory perception. Lu tsakem txavä’, ma tsmuk. ‘That’s disgusting, bro.’ On to less negative things: NÌFLÄ (adv., nì.FLÄ) ‘successfully’ Soleia! Ngal tìfmetokit emzola’u nìflä! Seykxel sì nitram! ‘You rose to the challenge! You passed the test successfully!

Congratulations!’

A few more words incorporating _txan_: TXANTSAWL (adj., TXAN.tsawl) ‘giant, huge’ TXASUNU (vin., txa.SU.nu) ‘love greatly, enjoy tremendously’ While in English you can love your spouse and also love hamburgers, in Na’vi the words are different. For the former, we of course use _yawne _plus the dative, as in _Nga yawne lu oer _‘I love you.’ For the other kind of love:

Txasunu oeru teylu!

‘I really love teylu!’ As you’ve seen by now, words incorporating _txan _are somewhat unpredictable as to stress (_txantsawl _but _txansngum_) and whether or not the n drops (_txantsawl _but _txavä’_). So you have to pay attention to each new word! ZEYKOYU (n., zey.KO.yu) ‘healer’ Fì’umtsat tolìng ’evengur aspxin zeykoyul a txanro’a. ‘This medicine was given to the sick child by a famous healer.’ TÌRANPAM (n., tì.RAN.pam) ‘footstep (sound)’ Oel stawm sìranpamit! Lerok tuteo! ‘I hear footsteps! Someone is coming!’ FTUOPA (adp-; FTU.o.pa) ’from behind’ Sroler fwäkì ftuopa tskxe. ‘A mantis appeared from behind a rock.’ FYENG (adj.) ‘steep’ NARI SI! Fayramtsyìp lu fyeng. ’Be careful! These hills are steep.’ KAVAN (vtr., KA.van, inf. 1, 2) ’support (physically)’ Fol karmavan koaktet tengkrr fmeri po tivìran. ’They supported the old woman as she was trying to walk.’ LEPXÌMRUN (adj., le,PXÌM.run) ‘common, often found’ KELPXÌMRUN (adj., kel,PXÌM.run) ‘rare’ These two adjectives clearly derive from _pxìm _‘often’ and _run _‘find.’ ZUNG (vin.) ‘crouch’ Zolung ayoe nekll fteke ayioang tsivun ayoeti tsive’a. ‘We crouched down so that the animals wouldn’t be able to see

us.’

FPIVÌL (intj., fpi.VÌL) ‘hmm, let’s see, let me think’ This useful conversational expression translates the ubiquitous “Hmm” in English, where you’re thinking about or considering what’s just been said. Literally, of course, it means “Let (me)

think.”

Fpivìl . . . Kxawm ngaru tìyawr. ‘Hmm . . . Perhaps you’re right.’ KOM (vin. modal) ‘dare’ Syntactically, _kom _behaves like _tsun _and _var_—that is, it functions as a modal and requires the subjunctive () form of

following verb:

Oe ke kom kivä.

‘I don’t dare to go.’ Nga kom pivlltxe oehu tsafya srak? ‘You dare to speak to me like that?’ Note that in English, “dare” sometimes takes an object: “I dare you to tell him what you really think!” But that’s a different verb in Na’vi, something like “challenge,” which we’ll discuss

another time.

MAM (vtr.) ‘wrap’ Fìsräti pxaw sey mivam fte tsat hivawnu. ‘Wrap this cloth around the bowl to protect it.’ NÌTXUKX (adv., nì.TXUKX) ‘deeply’ The adverbial form of _txukx _is used both literally and metaphorically, as in English. Poanit tsolukx poel fa tstal nìtxukx nemfa heyr. ‘She stabbed him deeply in the chest with a knife.’ Fìtìpawmteri fparmìl oe nìtxukx, slä vay set ke rolängun

tì’eyngit.

‘I’ve thought about this question deeply, but I’m sad to say I haven’t yet found the answer.’ Two verbs related to _yom_: YOMVEY (vin., yom.VEY, inf. 1,1) ‘dine on flesh, be carnivorous’ Palukantsyìp yomvey nìwotx. ‘All cats are carnivorous.’ Contrast this last example with: Fìpalukantsyìpìl yom veyti fratrr. ‘This cat eats meat every day.’ YOMZESWA (vin., yom.ZE.swa, inf. 1,1) ‘graze’ Snayerik yeromzeswa mì tayo. ‘A herd of hexapedes are grazing in the field.’ Again, contrast this intransitive example with a transitive sentence

like:

Torukìl ke yom zeswat. ‘A toruk doesn’t eat grass.’ RAW (adp-) ‘down to’ Kolä oe raw kilvan fte ivaho. ‘I went down to the river to pray.’ Kllza’u yìraw amuve. ‘Descend to the second level.’ You can also use _raw _for counting down to some number: Tiam ta vomrr raw pxey. ‘Count down from thirteen to three.’ TXAP (vtr.) ‘press, press on, apply pressure to’ Txap skxirit fteke reypay wrrziva’u. ‘Apply pressure to the wound so that the blood won’t flow.’

Derived noun:

TÌTXAP (n., tì.TXAP) ‘pressure’ Note: This word is used only for physical pressure, not psychological

or social pressure.

Two nouns related to the verb _emkä _‘cross’: SEMKÄ (n., sem.KÄ) ‘bridge’ As you can guess, this word is derived from _sä’o _‘tool’ plus _emkä_, where the expected form *_säemkä _has evolved naturally into _semkä_. EMKÄFYA (n., em.KÄ.fya) ‘ford, crossing’ Fìtseng payfya virä ka ngip areng, ha tsun awnga tsat sivar sko

emkäfya.

Here the stream spreads over a shallow area, so we can use it as a

ford.

FIL (n.) ‘child’s toy, plaything’ SUNKESUN (adv., SUN.ke.sun) ‘like it or not’ This is obviously a shortened form of _sunu ke sunu_. The default addressee is “you”: Sunkesun po slayu olo’eyktan. ‘Whether you like it or not, he’s going to become chief.’ If the “like it or not” is not addressed to the listener, we need to use a different construction: Pol vìyewng ayevengit fìha’ngir, ftxey sunu fuke. ‘He is going to take care of the children this afternoon, whether he

likes it or not.’

MAITAN (ph., ma.I.tan) ‘my son (form of address)’ MAITE (ph., ma.I.te) ‘my daughter (form of address)’ These two words are clearly contractions of _ma ’itan _and _ma ’ite _and are used in casual conversation as affectionate forms of address, rather like the Spanish _mijo _(from _mi hijo_, ‘my son’) and _mija _(from _mi hija_, ‘my daughter’). MAITAN ZA’U FÌTSENG. ‘Come here, son.’ And now for a little surprise. LOHO (vin., LO.ho) ‘be surprising’ The one who is surprised—that is, the experiencer—is in the

dative:

Täftxutswo Riniyä loho oer nìtxan. ‘Rini’s ability to weave surprises me a lot.’ Fo tsìk sroler a fi’u loloho poanur.

OR

Loloho poanur fwa fo tsìk sroler. ‘It surprised him that they suddenly appeared.’

Derivations:

TÌLOHO (n., tì.LO.ho) ‘surprise’ A. EPXANGMÌ LU ’UPE? ‘What’s in the stone jar?’

B. TÌLOHO.

‘It’s a surprise.’ NÌLOHO (adv., nì.LO.ho) ‘surprisingly’ Poltxe po nìloho san oe zasya’u. ‘Surprisingly, he said he would come.’ And two astronomical terms: TSAWKENAY (n., tsaw.ke.NAY) ‘Alpha Centauri B’ TAWSNRRTSYÌP (n., taw.SNRR.tsyìp) ‘Alpha Centauri C aka Proxima

Centauri’

As you may know, the Alpha Centauri system contains three stars: A, the largest and brightest; B, somewhat smaller and dimmer; and C, also known as Proxima Centauri, a much smaller and dimmer star that’s actually the closest star to Earth after the sun. There’s a good diagram of the relative sizes here

(scroll down):

What do the Na’vi call these stars? A is simply the familiar _Tsawke_. B is _Tsawkenay_. Recall that the stressed _-nay _suffix creates new nouns that are a step down in some relevant hierarchy—size, rank, accomplishment—from the base noun. Here, Alpha Centauri B is the “Deputy Sun,” since it’s a step down in brightness compared

to A.

As for C, litte Proxima Centauri, the Na’vi don’t think of it as a sun at all but rather as the little lamp in the sky, _Tawsnrrtsyìp_, from _taw _‘sky’ + _sänrr _‘lamp’ + _tsyìp _‘diminutive.’ Colloquially, _Tawsnrrtsyìp _is often shortened to SNRRTSYÌP. Finally, I want to introduce you to the important word KURU (n., KU.ru) ‘neural queue’ You’re already familiar with the word _tswin_, which also refers to the neural queue. For now, we can consider the words to be interchangeable synonyms. It’s possible, however, that as time goes on we’ll be able to pinpoint a difference between the two. If and when that occurs, I’ll be sure to update you. I have a number of grammatical questions I want to address along with more new vocabulary, so I’ll be in touch again soon. In the meantime, I hope everyone in Munich is having a fantastic time!

Vergnügt euch!

Hayalovay,

ta Pawl

EDIT 6 JUNE: FORMATTING PROBLEMS FIXED. IRAYO NÌTXAN, MA EANA UNIL! EDIT 6 JUNE: FRATO–>FRAPO, MAM (VIN.) –> MAM (VTR.) IRAYO NGAR, MA

VAWMATAW!

Posted in General | 33

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SEIYI OE IRAYO. I AM THANKFUL. Posted on November 21, 2018

by Pawl

_Ma eylan,_

_Fìtseng alu Amerikamì lu Trrmrrve Ftxozä ”Thanksgiving.” Fìtrrkrrka, sìltsana ayuri tìreyä nìwotx fko irayo si._ I always have a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. But this one is special. As some of you may have heard, I had major surgery on my heart last week to correct a life-threatening condition, and it worked out beautifully. I’m now walking around at home, feeling remarkably good, doing almost everything I used to do except driving and lifting anything heavy. Those will come in time. But I am SO grateful for my amazing Dream Team of surgeons and doctors, for my fantastic family, for my incredible friends who offered me such support and encouragement. For many reasons I often think I’m the luckiest man in the world. _Nìngay lolu Eywa oehu._ As you can tell, I’ve had a lot on my mind recently, and I apologize for being unresponsive to many of your comments and questions. But thank you for them all, and I will get to my backlog in time. For those in the U.S., have a wonderful Thanksgiving aka Turkey Day. And for everyone, I hope you’re all well and happy as we approach

the holidays.

_Hayalovay!_

Ta Pawl

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AYSRR, AYVOSPXÌ, AYZÌSÌKRR.   DAYS, MONTHS, SEASONS. Posted on October 30, 2018

by Pawl

_Kxì, ma smuk!_

_Sìlpey oe, ayngari zìskrrtsawn sirvalew pxaya lrrtokhu a ta Eywa, ulte ftxozä Hälowinä livu ’o’ sì snewsye

txantxewvay. _

It was a busy September and October for us, with a trip “back east,” as we say, to New York and Massachusetts to see family and friends, and some personal issues to resolve as well. I haven’t done too much with Na’vi these past few months, but there’s some new vocabulary in this post that I hope you’ll find useful. But before that, two things: First, I finally corrected the entry for _nìtxankeltrrtrr _‘extraordinarily’ in the March 31 post, which had incorrectly listed the word as an adjective. It is, of course, and adverb. _Irayo nìtxan, ma Eana Elf! _And by the way, if anyone discovers other errors in previous posts that still need to be corrected, please let me know! Second, I want to express long-overdue thanks to our Neytiri for her excellent analysis of the differences between _vitra _‘soul’ and _tirea _‘spirit’ in the comment section of the previous post. If you haven’t already seen it, I strongly suggest you take a look. _Lu ngeyä tsapostì lesar srunga’sì nìtxan, ma tsmuke. Aysäfpìl

ngey sunu oer!_

We haven’t yet had words for the specific months and seasons—at least those _’Rrtamì—_so these new terms should fill in those

gaps.

First, recall that we already have vocabulary for the days of the

week:

DAYS

TRR’AWVE         ‘Sunday’ TRRMUVE          ‘Monday’ TRRPXEYVE       ‘Tuesday’ TRRTSÌVE           ‘Wednesday’ TRRMRRVE         ‘Thursday’ TRRPUVE           ‘Friday’ TRRKIVE            ‘Saturday’ These clearly derive from _trr _plus the ordinal numbers. So Sunday is derived from “first day,” Monday from “second day,” etc. It’s important, however, to distinguish these derived compounds from the ordinary two-word phrases that still exist perfectly well in Na’vi. For example, _Trrmrrve _and _trr amrrve_/_mrrvea trr _are both correct but differ in meaning. LU TRRMRRVE MUVEA TRR A TÌKANGKEM SI OE HU RALU. ‘Thursday was the second day I worked with Ralu.’

MONTHS

Given the days of the week, you might expect the names of specific months on Earth to be built on the same pattern. Since ‘month’ is _vospxì_, it would be natural to expect _*Vospxì’awve _for ‘January,’ _*vospxìmuve _for ‘February,’ etc. As it turns out, however, the actual words are a bit different: VOSPXÌ’AW (n., vo.spxì.’AW)  

‘January’

VOSPXÌMUN (n., vo.spxì.MUN)

’February’

VOSPXEY (n., vo.SPXEY)

’March’

VOSPXÌTSÌNG (n., vo.spxì.TSÌNG)

’April’

VOSPXÌMRR (n., vo.spxì.MRR)

‘May’

VOSPXÌPUK (n., vo.spxì.PUK)

‘June’

VOSPXÌKIN (n., vo.spxì.KIN)

‘July’

VOSPXÌVOL (n., vo.spxì.VOL)

‘August’

VOSPXÌVOLAW (n., vo.spxì.vo.LAW)     

‘September’

VOSPXÌVOMUN (n., vo.spxì.vo.MUN)   

‘October’

VOSPXÌVOPEY (n., vo.spxì.vo.PEY)

‘November’

VOSPXÌVOSÌNG (n., vo.spxì.vo.SÌNG)    

December’

As you see, the month names are derived from _vospxì _along with the _cardinal _(one, two, three, . . . ), not the _ordinal _(first, second, third, . . . ) numbers. That is, January is “Month One,” February “Month Two,” and so on. You’ll notice that some shortenings have taken place along the way. In particular, ‘March’ must originally have been _*Vospxìpxey_, but that quickly evolved to _Vospxey_. A note on pronunciation: Except in very careful speech, the normal conversational pronunciation of the unstressed _-spxì-_syllable in all these words is simply _-spì-_, where the ejective becomes a simple stop. That’s much easier to pronounce in fast, casual speech. The spelling, however, retains the _px_.

SEASONS

For the temperate zones on earth, we have four seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring. Does Pandora likewise have seasons? Let me defer once again to Neytiri on this question, from some private

correspondence:

Srane, Pandora has seasons, because it has an axial tilt, similar to Earth’s . . . Pandora’s seasons, like everything about Pandora, are probably just a little more exaggerated than Earth’s because of the higher axial tilt. But there should be a hotter time and a colder time, with transitional periods between, and they should have roughly the same effects, as far as I can tell . . .. Some quotes I found: “If the planet has a tilt similar to ours (Mars , Saturn , Neptune ), it has seasons similar to ours.” “Because of its high axial tilt (29°), Pandora exhibits considerable annual variation in the day-to-night ratio. In addition, its elliptical orbit produces seasonal temperature variations and a range in daytime illumination of about ten percent.” Summer and winter are straightforward—they’re the hot and cold seasons on both _Eywa’eveng_ and _’Rrta_, and are thus applicable

in both places:

ZÌSKRRSOM (n., zì.skrr.SOM) ‘summer’  (from _zìsìkrr asom_) ZÌSKRRWEW(n., zì.skrr.WEW) ‘winter’  (from _zìsìkrr awew_) For the “transitional seasons,” i.e. spring and fall, we have the following terms, which are applicable on earth but not necessarily on Pandora. (Whether the Na’vi recognize spring and fall on Pandora is still to be determined.) On earth, spring is the season of new growth: PAW (vin.) ‘grow’ This is ‘grow’ in the sense of ‘germinate and develop (of a plant).’ It’s distinct from _tsawl slu_, which implies “getting big” and is also the term used for an animal that’s growing up and maturing. So we have this contrast: Fìutral paw kilvanlok nì’aw. Tsawl slu nìwin nìtxan. ‘This tree only grows (i.e., germinates, develops) near a river. It grows (i.e., gets big) very quickly.’

With that said,

TÌPAW (n., tì.PAW) ‘growth’

And so we have:

ZÌSKRRMIPAW (n., zì.skrr.MI.paw) ‘spring’ (from _zìsìkrr a mipa tìpaw_, ‘season of new growth’) Fall is the harvest season: TSAWN (vtr.) ‘gather growing food from the forest; pick; (in agriculture) harvest’ Note that _tsawn _is not quite the same as the word for ‘gather’ that you’re already familiar with, _starsìm_. _Starsìm _is general: you can _starsìm _anything you can gather—arrows, stones, even people. _Tsawn _is specifically for gathering or picking fruits or other plant-based foods from the forest. In cases where crops are planted and cultivated—that is, where there is agriculture—_tsawn _can be extended to include the meaning ‘harvest.’ (Since the Na’vi mainly hunt and gather rather than plant crops, they tend to _tsawn_ the entire year rather than restrict harvesting to the fall. Thanks again to Neytiri for clarification on

this question.)

With that said,

ZÌSKRRTSAWN (n. zì.skrr.TSAWN) ‘autumn, fall’ (from _zìsìkrr a tsawn_ ‘season for harvesting’) Happy Halloween, everyone! Posted in General | 8

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FMAWNTI STOLAWM SRAK? HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? Posted on August 31, 2018

by Pawl

_Ma eylan_, did you hear that TIME Magazine has recognized our beloved theme park in Orlando, Florida, PANDORA—THE WORLD OF AVATAR—as one of the “World’s Greatest Places” for 2018? _Meuia atxan leiu, kefyak? _ Here’s a group picture of some of the Pandoran staff, with a congratulatory banner. _Seykxel sì Nitram _indeed! Last night I had the pleasure of attending a talk at USC (the University of Southern California, my alma mater) given by Joe Rohde , the dynamic head of Walt Disney Imagineering, the Disney division devoted to the theme parks. As such, he was the major creative force at Disney behind Pandora. His talk was stimulating—I hope it will eventually be available online—and I hope to have some comments relating to what he spoke about in a later post. For now, here are a few new vocabulary items I hope you’ll find

useful.

FPXAMO (adj., FPXA.mo) ‘terrible, horrible, awful’ This word allows us to complete the analogy _sìltsan : kosman ::

fe’ :_______.

Mawkrra fko lie soli tìlenur afpxamo fìtxan, tìrey ke lu teng

kawkrr.

‘After experiencing such a terrible event, life is never the

same.’

Derivation:

TÌFPXAMO (n., tì.FPXA.mo) ‘horror’ NÌFPXAMO (adv., nì.FPXA.mo) ‘horribly, terribly, awfully’ Fpängìl oe, txonam oe rolol nìfpxamo. ‘Sadly, I think I sang terribly last night.’ TSYUL (vtr.) ‘begin, start’ _Tsyul _is more or less synonymous with the word for ‘begin’ we’re already familiar with, _sngä’i_, but its use is a bit different, since it’s transitive. POL TÌKANGKEMIT TSYOLUL. ‘He began the work.’ We can use _tsyul _in an intransitive construction by adding the reflexive infix <äp>: TÌKANGKEM TSYÄPOLUL. ‘The work began.’ With the derived noun, however, there’s an important difference in

meaning:

TÌTSYUL (n., tì.TSYUL) ‘beginning, start’ As you know, _sngä’i _yields two words for ‘beginning,’ one specifically for the _time _at which something starts, _sngä’ikrr_, and one specifically for the _place _at which something starts, _sngä’itseng. Tìtsyul_, on the other hand, is a general word for ‘beginning’ that’s neutral as to time or place. Sìtsyul nìwotx lu ngäzìk. ‘All beginnings are difficult.’ NAWANG (vin., NA.wang, inf. 1, 2) ‘merge, become one with’ _Nawang _implies that two things have come together to become one, so that the original separateness is lost. We use _hu _to show that A has merged _with _B: Tìmuntxamaw lam Ninatur fwa vitra sneyä nolawang hu pum muntxatuä. ‘After her marriage, it seemed to Ninat that her soul had merged with that of her mate.’ LAMAYTXA (n., la.may.TXA) ‘flood’ A _lamaytxa _is a flood or a powerful gathering of water. It’s not clear what the etymology of the word is, although the last syllable may have evolved from _txan_. Lamaytxal atxan pxaya kelkut skola’änga. ‘The great flood sadly destroyed many homes.’ (Question: Where does the stress fall in _skola’änga_? ) And finally, a word we’ve lacked for a long time: OARE (n., o.A.re) ‘moon’ Naranawm has fourteen moons revolving around it—including Eywa’eveng!—so it should be possible to see up to thirteen moons in the Pandoran sky. Each of these probably has a specific name in Na’vi, but it’s also clear that there must be a generic term for ‘moon.’ This is _oare_. Polpxaya oaret tse’a ngal mì saw pxiset? ‘How many moons do you see in the sky right now?’ By the way, I had an interesting discussion with one of our _ayhapxìtu lì’fyaolo’ä _about whether or not the Na’vi realize that Pandora is in fact a moon of Naranawm. I hope Neytiri won’t mind my sharing her astute analysis with you: “As for moon, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Na’vi were aware that Pandora is a moon. They are certainly very aware of the other moons and their patterns, so I don’t think it would be a stretch for them to realise that they orbit Naranawm as well. We know about the ‘circular drums’ whose ‘size and arrangement of the individual drums within the ring reflect Pandora’s solar system.’ And we know that the uses for _waytelem ayll_is to record history, including astronomy, going back 18,000 years.” That’s it for now. _Hayalovay!_ EDIT SEPT. 1: TIREA –> VITRA Posted in General | 17

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TA SULFÄTU A AYLÌ’U NÌ’UL. MORE WORDS FROM OUR EXPERTS. Posted on July 31, 2018

by Pawl

_Kaltxì nìmun, ma eylan. Srane, oel mi tok fìtsenget! _  I’m afraid I’ve been preoccupied with other things lately, but I’ve been sitting on some great suggestions from the LEP for some time now, and I wanted to get those words to you without any more delay. In a few cases I’ve made some changes, but the words and examples below are mostly as submitted to me. _Tìkangkem atxantsan,

ma smuk!_

’ON SI (vin.) ‘shape; give shape (to something)’ This _si_-verb can be used either for physical shaping or, metaphorically, for giving shape to something abstract like an idea,

relationship, etc.

OE ’ON SI TSKXERU FTE NA IKRAN LIVAM. ‘I shape a rock to look like an ikran.’ Olo’ìri poan zusawkrrur ’on soli. ‘He shaped the tribe’s future.’ KXANGE (vin., KXA.nge, inf. 1,2) ‘yawn’ As on earth, yawning can be a result of fatigue or boredom. (Note: The original submission had _kxange _as a noun, with the verb as _kxange si_, but I thought that the verbal form was more basic.) Oe kxìmange taluna ’efu ngeyn. ‘I just yawned because I feel tired.’ Keng krra sänumvi eltur tìtxen ke si, nga sweylu txo ke kxivange mì

numtseng.

‘Even when the lesson isn’t interesting, you shouldn’t yawn in

school.’

SÄKXANGE (n., sä.KXA.nge) ‘a yawn’ WALEW (vin., wa.LEW, inf. 1,2) ‘get over, accept some fact, reconcile oneself, move on’ This verb expresses the psychological state of accepting or reconciling oneself to some negative fact or occurrence. Furia oe yawne ke lu Va’rur nulkrr, ke tsängun oe wivalew. ‘I can’t get over the fact that Va’ru no longer loves me.’ Tìska’ari Kelutralä Na’vi wayalew pefya? ‘With the destruction of Hometree, how will the Na’vi ever move

on?’

NÌNEW (adv., nì.NEW) ‘voluntarily, willingly, by desire’ This is clearly the adverbial form of _new _‘want.’ It indicates something was done willingly or voluntarily, not through coercion. _Nìnew _is different from _nìtkan_, which has the sense of doing something on purpose or deliberately as opposed to accidentally. Nga tsakem soli nìnew srak?! ‘You did that without being asked to?!’ Tsasänumvit oel poru kayeiar nìnew! ‘I’m happy to teach him that lesson!’ OEL PELUN FTXALMEY NÌNEW FUTA SRUNG SI SKXAWNGUR ANAFÌ’U? ‘Why did I choose, of my own free will, to help such a fool?’ TAWTXEW (n., TAW.txew) ‘horizon, skyline’ The horizon is the “edge (_txew_) of the sky” where the sky seems to touch the land or water. Several adpositions can be used with _tawtxew _to indicate positions right on the horizon (_sìn_or _ro_), in front of the horizon, i.e. in the distance almost at the skyline (_eo_), behind the horizon, i.e. partially visible, partially sunk below the horizon (_uo_), etc. LU AYRAM SÌN TAWTXEW. ‘There are mountains on the horizon.’ (I.e. exactly on the

skyline).

Naranawmä mawl mi lu uo tawtxew. ‘Half of Polyphemus is still behind the horizon.’ (I.e. overlapping the skyline, partially invisible) FRIR (n.) ‘layer’ Tskxepayri lu frir aflì sìn ’ora. ‘There’s a thin layer of ice on the lake.’ Fayfrir letskxe lor lu nìtxan. ‘These stone layers are very beautiful.’

Derivations:

LEFRIR (adj., le.FRIR) ‘layered’ NÌFRIR (adv., nì.FRIR) ‘in layers’ LEYR (adj.) ‘frozen’ Ke tsun ioang rivun syuvet mì hllte aleyr. ‘Animals can’t find food in the frozen ground.’ To say something freezes, use _slu _‘become’ along with _leyr_: Mì zìsìkrr atxawew slu ayora leyr. ‘In the very cold season, the lakes freeze.’ LEYR SI (vin.) ‘freeze (something)’ _Leyr si_, although a _si_-verb and therefore intransitive, conveys the transitive sense of “freeze” in English: Txo awnga fìtsnganur leyr sivi, tsun tsat yivom kintrray. ‘If we freeze this meat, we can eat it next week.’

_Hayalovay!_

Posted in General | 8

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�100A LÌ’U AMIP! 64 NEW WORDS! (PART 2) Posted on April 30, 2018

by

Pawl

_Kaltxì, ma eylan! _Here’s Part 2 of our _Zama Lì’u Amip_—°40 (32) more new vocabulary items, at least some of which I hope will be useful to you. Since John and I are leaving for France tomorrow, May 1, to celebrate John’s _°120a ftxozä _(that looks even more impressive in Na’vi!), and since I want to keep my promise about 64 new words this month, I’m going to make this a briefer post than usual, leaving out examples for items that seem straightforward and

self-explanatory.

Here are the _mipa aylì’u sì aylì’fyavi_, in alphabetical order (except for derivations): FNELAN (n., FNE.lan) ‘male’ FNELE (n., FNE.le) ‘female’ We’ve had a number of pairs of words where male and female are distinguished by the endings _-an_ and _-e_ respectively: _tutan/tuté_, _’itan/’ite_, _evengan/evenge_, etc. But up to now we haven’t seen words for ‘male’ and ‘female’ by themselves. These two words, obviously built on _fnel _‘kind, type,’ serve

that purpose.

The corresponding adjectives are the expected ones: LEFNELAN (adj., le.FNE.lan) ‘male’ LEFNELE (adj., le.FNE.le) ‘female’ FWÌNG (n.) ‘humiliation, embarrassment, loss of face’ Raluri fwa tìfmetokit ke emzola’u längu fwìng atxan. ‘Ralu’s not passing the test was a great humiliation (to him).’ FWÌNG SI (vin.) ‘humiliate’ FYAWÌNTXUYU (n., fya.wìn.TXU.yu) ‘guide’ A _fyawìntxuyu _is a _person _who guides you, not an abstract principle that can serve as a guide. So you can’t use _fyawìntxuyu _for things like “This rule is a guide to proper

behavior.”

HAN (vtr.) ‘lose’ This important verb fills a long-standing gap. We already have a verb for ‘lose’ as the opposite of ‘win,’ but _han _is ‘lose’ in the sense of not having something you once had. You can _han _something out of forgetfulness or through some other process—for example, losing someone who has died.

The noun is:

TÌHAN (n, tì.HAN) ‘loss’ Maw tìhan sa’nokä, Txewì afpawng sarmängi zìsìto apxay. ‘Sadly, after the loss of his mother, Txewì grieved for many

years.’

HIPX (vtr.) ‘control’ Karyu asìltsan zene tsivun aynumeyut hivipx mì numtsengvi. ‘A good teacher has to be able to control (his/her) students in the

classroom.’

The derived noun is: TÌHIPX (n., tì.HIPX) ‘control’ Another related noun is: SNOTIPX (n., sno.TIPX) ‘self-control’ This is derived from _sno_+ _tìhipx_, where the _ìh _part has become elided over time. Ke fkeytok tìeyktan atìflänga’ luke snotipx. ‘Successful leadership does not exist without self-control.’ KÄMUNGE (vtr., kä.MU.nge, inf. 2, 3) ‘take’ _Kämunge _is the opposite of _zamunge_. _Munge _by itself is neutral as to direction, and can mean either ‘bring’ or ‘take.’ _Zamunge _is specifically _munge towards _the speaker; _kämunge_ is _munge away from _the speaker. KAWNOMUM (adj., kaw.NO.mum) ‘unknown’ This is derived from _ke_+ _awnomum _(_omum _with the infix <<_awn_>>, changing ‘know’ to ‘known’). LE’AWTU (adj., le.’AW.tu) ‘alone, on one’s own, lone, by

oneself; lonely’

From a profitable discussion I had with our own Neytiri: Le’awtu has a range of meaning. As ‘alone, lone, on one’s own,’ it’s neutral as to positive or negative connotations: it simply means ‘solitary.’ However, it also has the potential to be used negatively to mean ‘lonely.’ Context should tell you the intended meaning, perhaps with the help of <<äng>>. Oe ‘efu le’awtu. ‘I feel alone.’ (Could be a bad thing, could be ok.) OE ‘EFÄNGU LE’AWTU. ‘I feel lonely.’ Oe lu le’awa tute a tsun srung sivi, ulte ‘efu le’awtu nìngay. ‘I’m the only one who can help, and I feel really alone.’ This could also be translated, ‘. . . I feel really lonely,’ since the context shows sadness about the aloneness. <<äng>> would be optional if you wanted to emphasize the sadness/loneliness. Le’awtua talioangìri lu kifkey tsenge lehrrap. ‘The world is a dangerous place for a lone sturmbeest.’ LIE SI (vin., LI.e.si) ‘experience’ This has a wide range of objects: you can experience an event, a feeling, even a person. As with other _si_-verbs, the object is in the

dative.

Tute a keftxo frato lu tsapo a tìyawnur lie ke soli kawkrr. ‘The saddest person of all is the one who has never experienced

love.’

LISWA (n., li.SWA) ‘nourishment’ LISWA SI (vin. li.SWA si) ‘nourish, provide nourishment’ Fì’ewll liswa si Na’viru. ‘This plant provides nourishment to the People’ MEUIA SI (vin., me.U.i.a si) ‘honor’ Ngeyä faylì’u atìtstunwinga’ oeru meuia soli nìngay. ‘These kind words of yours have honored me greatly.’ MEYPTU (n., MEYP.tu) ‘weakling’ A _meyptu_ can be either physically weak or have a weak character. NAFPAWNG (adv., na.FPAWNG) ‘grievingly, with grief’ This word is a contraction of *_nìafpawng_. NÌT’ILUKE (adv., nìt_._’I.lu.ke) ‘never-endingly, forever’ The derivation here is _nì_+ _tì’iluke _‘never-ending, endless.’ _Nari si!_ Don’t confuse this adverb with _nìtxiluke _‘unhurriedly, leisurely’! The two words are _not _pronounced the same. They provide a good exercise in distinguishing an ejective from a glottal stop. NONGSPE’ (vtr., nong.SPE’, inf. 1, 2) ‘pursue with an intent to

capture’

Obviously a compound of _nong _‘follow’ + _spe ’_‘capture.’ Taronyul yerikit narmongspe’, slä tsun yerik hivifwo. ‘The hunter was pursuing a hexapede, but the hexapede was able to

escape.’

TÌSYORTSYÌP (n., tì.SYOR.tsyìp) ‘break, small rest or

relaxation’

From the verb _syor _‘relax, chill out’ with the noun-creator _tì_– and the diminutive suffix, this word literally means a ‘little relaxation’—i.e., a break. Tìkangkem soli oe kawl nìtxan, ’efu ngeyn, ulte kin oel

tìsyortsyìpit.

‘I’ve worked hard, I’m tired, and I need a break.’ TO TÌTSERI (idiom; to tì.TSE.ri) ‘than is apparent, than you are

aware of’

This is a useful idiom, literally meaning ‘than awareness.’ It indicates that something is different from what a person may think or assume, or that something isn’t what it seems. Lu poe na nga nì’ul to tìtseri. ‘She’s more like you than you think (or: than you know).’ TSWAL (n.) ‘power’ Although there is some overlap, TSWAL is different from TÌTXUR ‘strength, power.’ _Tswal _can imply not just physical prowess but also psychological, emotional, or political power. There are two related adjectives meaning ‘powerful,’ one for people and

one for things.

LETSWAL (adj., le.TSWAL) ‘powerful (ofp)’ TSWALNGA’ (adj., TSWAL.nga’) ‘powerful (nfp)’ TSWESYA (n., TSWE.sya) ‘current’ TSWESYA SI (vin., TSWE.sya si) ‘flow’ Nari si, ma ’itan. Kilvan tswesya si nìwin nìtxan. ‘Be careful, son. The river is flowing very swiftly.’ TXE’LANKONG (n., txe’.LAN.kong) ‘heartbeat’ Clearly from _txe’lan_+ _’ekong_. TXURTU (n., TXUR.tu) ‘strongman/woman, brawny person’ Like its opposite _meyptu_, a _txurtu _can be either physically strong or have a strong character. I’m afraid I won’t be able to respond to questions or comments for a while, although I will as soon as I can. But as always, if you spot any typos or other obvious goofs (which aren’t unlikely, since I’ve posted this more quickly than usual), please let me know. _Hayalovay, ma smuk!_

ta Pawl

EDIT: FIXED PROBLEMS WITH _LIE SI_. IRAYO, MA R ONE SÌ SGM! Posted in General | 12

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�100A LÌ’U AMIP! 64 NEW WORDS! (PART 1) Posted on March 31, 2018

by

Pawl

_Kxì nìmun!_ As promised, here’s a post that should add quite a few new entries to our dictionaries. I have more than 64 new words on my list; I’ll post 32 (°40) now and include the rest in a follow-up post shortly. _Sìlpey oe, faylì’u amip sìyevunu ayngar ulte lesar

lìyevu nìteng._

First, in keeping with the holiday season (_mìftxele_, for those who celebrate, Happy Easter and Happy Passover!), here is some new vocabulary specifically related to belief and the spiritual dimension: AHO (vin., a.HO, inf. 1,2) ‘pray’ Eywaru aho, ma ’itan, fte Nawma Sa’nokìl tìyevìng ngar

tìtxurit.

‘Pray to Eywa, my son, that Great Mother will give you strength.’

Derivatives:

TÌAHO (n., tì.a.HO) ‘prayer (in general, abstract idea) SAHO (n., sa.HO) ‘a prayer’ _Saho_ is derived from *_säaho_, where the two vowels have merged. SYAWN (n.) ‘blessing’ As in English, _syawn_ can refer to the deity’s conferring favor upon something, or to someone’s sanction or support for a thing or

activity.

NEWEY YAWNE LU OER ULTE NEW OE MUNTXA SIVI POEHU. RUTXE, MA SEMPUL, TÌNG MOER NGEYÄ SYAWNIT. ‘I love Newey and want to marry her. Please, father, give us your

blessing.’

The verbal form is:

TÌNG SYAWN (vin.) ‘bless’ The syntax is similar to that of _tìng mikyun_, _tìng nari_, etc. Eywa tivìng syawn ngar, ma ’ite. ‘May Eywa bless you, my daughter.’ (An alternative and acceptable rendering of the previous example is _Eywal tivìng ngar sneyä syawnit_.) PARUL (n., pa.RUL) ‘miracle’ As in English, a _parul_ is a surprising or extraordinary event with positive consequences that can’t be explained by the laws of nature and is often attributed to divine intervention. Also as in English, its meaning can be extended to events that are highly unusual, extraordinary, or unexpected. Fwa ayioang apxay fìtxan Na’viru srung soli fte Sawtutet livätxayn

lu parul nìngay.

‘That so many animals helped the Na’vi defeat the Sky People was a

genuine miracle.’

Derivations:

PARULNGA’ (adj., pa.RUL.nga’) ‘miraculous’ (nfp) PARULTSYÌP (n., pa.RUL.tsyìp) ‘term of affection for children’ Txon lefpom, ma parultsyìp. Hivahaw nìmwey. ‘Good night, my dear little one. Sleep peacefully.’ A _parul_ is more than unusual: KELTRRTRR (adj., kel.TRR.trr) ‘unusual’ (The derivation is obviously from _ke_ + _letrrtrr_.) It is in fact extraordinary: TXANKELTRRTRR (adj., TXAN.kel.TRR.trr) ‘extraordinary’ NÌTXANKELTRRTRR (adv., nì.TXAN.kel.TRR.trr) ‘extraordinarily’ Oey ’eylan plltxe nìNa’vi na hufwe nìtxankeltrrtrr. ‘My friend speaks Na’vi extraordinarily fluently.’ Next, some vocabulary based on new roots: HAFYON (n., ha.FYON) ‘wisdom’ Note that _hafyon_ is more than just _tìomum_ ‘knowledge’; it implies the mature judgment that comes from experience.

Derivations:

LAFYON (adj., la.FYON) ‘wise’ (ofp) This comes from _le_ + _hafyon_, where *_lehafyon_ has evolved over time to simply _lafyon_. HAFYONGA’ (adj., ha.FYO.nga’) ‘wise (nfp)’ (Here the _n_ of _hafyon_ has been absorbed by the _ng_ of

–_nga’_.)

So a wise leader is _eyktan lafyon_, while wise words are _aylì’u

ahafyonga’_.

FKXARA (n., FKXA.ra) ‘stress (mental or emotional feeling)’ Krra oe ftxulì’u, pxìm ’efu fkxarat nìtxan. ‘When I give a speech, I often feel a lot of stress.’ FKXARANGA’ (n., FKXA.ra.nga’) ‘stressful’ Ngeyä fpomtokxìri fìtìfkeytok afkxaranga’ lu lehrrap. ‘This stressful situation is dangerous to your health.’ AFPAWNG (n., a.FPAWNG) ‘grief’ Maw kxitx sempulä larmängu Peyralä afpawng txewluke. ‘After (her) father’s death, Peyral’s grief was endless.’ AFPAWNG SI (vin.) ‘grieve’ KEYN (vtr.) ‘put down’ _Keyn_ is the opposite of _kxeltek_ ‘pick up.’ Ngey tskoti kiveyn. Li yerik holifwo. ‘Put down your bow. The hexapede has already run away.’ Some words connected with fire: PALON (vin., PA.lon, inf. 1,2) ‘burn’ We’ve already seen the transitive verb for ‘burn,’ _nekx_, which typically indicates fire burning or consuming something else. _Palon_ is the intransitive ‘burn’: Txep ahì’i mì teptseng parmalon. ‘A little fire was burning in the fireplace.’

REM (n.) ‘fuel’

Na’viri lu fìutralä rìn rem letsranten. ‘The wood of this tree is an important fuel for the Na’vi.’ TONG (vtr.) ‘put out, quench’ Mawkrra ngal txepit tolong tsun hivum. ‘After you’ve put out the fire you can leave.’ The folks at the Disney theme park asked for some words to use with kids who are engaging in a coloring activity with crayons. First, they needed specific words for red and orange. As you know, the Na’vi words _ean_ and _tun_ cover the blue-green and red-orange parts of the spectrum respectively. Blue specifically is _ta’lengean_ (“skin _ean_”) while green is _rikean_ (“leaf _ean_”). But what about

red and orange?

REYPAYTUN (adj., REY.pay.tun) ‘red’ (“blood _tun_”) (As a reminder, although the Na’vi have blue skin, their blood is

red like ours.)

TXEPTUN (adj., TXEP.tun) ‘orange’ (“fire _tun_”)

As for crayon:

VULTSYÌP (n., VUL.tsyìp) ‘stick’ ’OPINVULTSYÌP (n., ’O.pin.vul.tsyìp) ‘crayon’ A crayon, then, is literally a “color stick.” _’Opinvultsyìp_ is quite a mouthful for kids, but fortunately there’s a colloquial

shortening:

PINVUL (n., PIN.vul) ‘crayon’ Here’s a conversational term I think you’ll find useful: SRANKEHE (part., intj., sran.KE.he) ‘more or less, somewhat, yes and

no, kind of’

You’re already very familiar with a compound word from _srane_ + _kehe_, namely _srake/srak_. _Srankehe_ comes from the same source but has a very different use. It’s an equivocal response to a yes-no question, when you don’t want to commit yourself—that is, when you want to hedge. You’re not saying yes, you’re not saying no. A: Srake faysäfpìl lu pum ngey nìwotx? ‘Are all these ideas your own?’

B: Srankehe.

‘More or less.’ In colloquial speech, this word is usually pronounced _srangkehe_, although it’s not spelled that way. TÌ’ONGOKX (n., tì.’O.ngokx) ‘birth’ Tì’ongokxìri ngeyä ’itanä seykxel sì nitram! ‘Congratulations on the birth of your son!’ Finally, a few words from my backlog of LEP suggestions: RÌKXI (vin., rì.KXI, inf. 1,2) ‘tremble, shake, shiver’ As the LEP members described it, “The meaning of this verb is ‘tremble, shiver’ as a leaf in the wind, or ‘shake’ as a vigorous, intentional movement. When not intentional, it is best described as a quick, erratic movement caused by the cold or

intense emotion.”

Pori mesyokx rìkxi, ha ke tsayun yerikit tivakuk. ‘His hands tremble, so he will not be able to hit the hexapede.’ Ralu rìkxi krra srew, rì’ir si palukanur a lu alaksi fte spivä. ‘Ralu does a shake while dancing, imitating a thanator that’s

ready to leap.’

The transitive sense of shake is expressed by the causative

infix:

Reykìkxi utralti, zup mauti. ‘If you shake the tree, the fruit will fall.’ (That is, actions

have consequences.)

Derivation:

NÌRÌKXI (adv., nì.rì.KXI) ‘shakily, tremblingly’ KAWKXAN (adj., kaw.KXAN) ‘free, unblocked, unobstructed, clear’ This is derived from _ke_ + _’aw_ + _exkan_ ‘barricade,

obstruction.’

Nga tsun kivä set. Fya’o lu kawkxan. ‘You can go now. The way is clear.’ That’s it for Part 1. Part 2 of the _Zama __Lì’u Amip_ is coming

soon.

As always, please let me know if you spot any typos or other goofs. And again, Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and Happy Spring _ayngaru

nìwotx_!

_Hayalovay!_

ta Pawl

P.S. My apologies to all those whose questions and comments I haven’t yet responded to. I will as soon as I can. EDIT 1 APRIL: REPEATED ENTRY _MAWFTXELE_ REPLACED BY _TÌ’ONGOKX_; *TÌYEVING –> TÌYEVÌNG. _IRAYO MA PLUMPS. _EDIT 3 APRIL: _NAWMA SA’NOK_ –> _NAWMA SA’NOKÌL_, _KELTXEK_ –> _KXELTEK_,_ ‘OPINVULSTYÌP_ –> _‘OPINVULTSYÌP. IRAYO MA PXEYLAN ALU KXREKORIKUS, PLUMPS, SÌ EANAUNIL! _EDIT 30 SEPT: FOR _NÌTXANKELTRR_, ADJ –> ADV. IRAYO, MA EANA ELF!

_ _

Posted in General | 40

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NEGATIVE QUESTIONS IN NA’VI Posted on February 28, 2018

by Pawl

_Kxì _(see below) _nìmun, ma eylan_. I’ve been gone from the blog a long time, and many questions you’ve asked me still remain unanswered—_oeru txoa livu mìftxele_. But rest assured I haven’t been wasting my time. _Kifkeymì Uniltìrantokxä tìkangkem si oe kawl slä nì’o’ nì’aw_. I’m currently working on a big post with a lot of new vocabulary, which I hope to complete shortly. _Tsakrrvay_, let me respond to a question that was posed by the LEP last year: how to ask and answer negative questions in Na’vi. The LEPers provided some very interesting examples from German, where “doch” and “nein” are used in the answers to such questions, and asked if there’s anything parallel in Na’vi. This discussion won’t cover every possibility, but it will at least make a start. Negative questions are a lot more complicated than they might seem—at least that’s what I’m discovering! At first, it appears that a negative question simply turns a negative statement into a question: You aren’t hungry. –> Aren’t you hungry? I didn’t see you yesterday. –> Didn’t I see you yesterday? He has no shame. –> Has he no shame? But what do those negative questions actually _mean_? What is the speaker trying to find out—and trying to get across? In other words, even if the _syntax_ is straightforward, what are the _semantics_ of

these questions?

Take a simple positive question like “Are you John?” What’s being asked? Well, the speaker is considering the statement “You are John” and asking for confirmation: Is that statement true? In other words, “You are John—true or false?” If it’s true, the other person answers “Yes,” which means “The statement you’re asking about is correct.” A fuller answer would be, “Yes, I’m John.” If the statement is not correct—if the person is in fact David, not John—the answer is “No,” which means “The statement you’re asking about is not correct.” So far so good. What happens, however, if the statement being turned into a question is negative? For example, “You are not John,” which becomes the negative question “Aren’t you John?” If we follow the analysis in the previous paragraph, the speaker is considering the statement “You are not John” and asking for confirmation: “You are not John—true or false?” A response of “Yes” should then mean, “The statement you’re asking about is correct—I am not John.” And “No” should mean, “The statement you’re asking about is incorrect—I am indeed John.” But that is _not_ what people usually mean when they ask such questions. When a speaker asks someone, “Aren’t you John?” there’s a pre-existing belief on her part that this person is in fact John, and she’s asking for confirmation of that belief. “I believe you’re John. That’s correct, isn’t it?” An alternative form of the question gets this across more clearly: “You’re John, aren’t you?” In this case, an answer of “Yes” means, “Your pre-existing belief is correct. I am John.” And “No” means “Your pre-existing belief is incorrect. I am not John.” Confused

yet?

I’m happy to report that with _srak(e)_ questions Na’vi, such pre-existing beliefs don’t enter the picture, and the situation is more straightforward. That is, a question of the form _Srake _ or _ srak_ , where X is some statement, simply asks whether or not X is true. It doesn’t matter whether X is a positive or a negative statement. An answer of _“Srane”_ means that X is true. _Kehe_ means X is not true. The questions do not imply any pre-existing beliefs on the part of the questioner. For example: * _Nga lu Txewì srak? _means: “Please tell me if the statement ‘You are Txewi’ is true or false.” An answer of _“Srane”_ means, “Yes, it’s true.” _“Kehe”_ means “No, it’s not

true.”

* _Nga ke lu Txewì srak? _means: “Please tell me if the statement ‘You are not Txewi’ is true or false.” Just as above, an answer of _“Srane”_ means, “Yes, it’s true. I am not Txewì.” “Kehe” means “No, it’s not true. I am indeed Txewì.” How, then, would you convey the idea of the English question “Aren’t you Txewì?” with its pre-existing belief? In Na’vi it would simply be, _“Nga lu Txewì, kefyak?”_ That’s exactly parallel to the English “You’re Txewì, aren’t you?” which is to say, “You’re Txewì–isn’t that true?” And as in English, an answer of _“Srane”_ means “Your pre-existing belief is correct—I am Txewì,” while _“Kehe”_ means “Your pre-existing belief is incorrect—I’m not Txewì.” There’s more to be said about this subject, but I think that’s quite enough for now.

Oh, by the way:

KXÌ (intj.) ‘hi, hiya” This was a nice suggestion from the LEP members for a more casual greeting than _kaltxì_, to be used among friends. Kxì, ma ’eylan! Kempe leren? ‘Hey dude! What’s happenin’?’

_Hayalovay!_

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