Why no plural imperative?

Started by Plumps, June 23, 2010, 02:49:26 AM

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Muzer

#20
Is vocative optional (or even forbidden) on pronouns then? I've never heard "ma nga", anyway...

In the very limited amount I know about the two non-English RL languages I know a bit about (French and German), you sometimes put the "target" as the subject (mostly with the formal forms, Sie in German) - that's what it seems to me, anyway. In German, word order differentiates between imperative and statement - "Machen Sie." (make/do imperative) vs "Sie machen." (you are making/doing). I can't remember much about French imperatives other than that you can sometimes put the "target" in as in German.



My theory is that in Na'vi, you can use either the vocative or the nominative/ergative, depending on preference - but the former must always go at the beginning or the end in a separate clause (well, not sure about this - but where you would put a comma in English before/after the name), like normal vocatives.
[21:42:56] <@Muzer> Apple products used to be good, if expensive
[21:42:59] <@Muzer> now they are just expensive

kewnya txamew'itan

ma nga would be superfluous, if I'm talking to you (as I'd have to be to call you nga) then I'm talking to you (so should use the vocative), 2nd persons are effectively already vocative as well as any case they have as well. A vocative 3rd person pronoun wouldn't make sense either as, if I'm talking to you then I'd use a second person (unless your language uses 3rd persons for formal 2nd persons or similar) so effectively ma wouldn't work with pronouns.
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omängum fra'uti

Yeah generally no vocative pronouns...  Though there are some cases like "ma frapo" (Or "frapoya") which COULD be used, but it's an odd case, and certainly not required.
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