Mawey Na'via, Mawey

[edmoreira]

sorry about that, i got that from the wikipedia article about the na'vi language (where ma is listed under adpositions), and you know wikipedia!
I trust you guys better
Frommer ayoenghu

[Beduino]

I watched the movie for the 2nd time yesterday, and kept memikyun sì menari out for that.

I heard Na'vi-yä(a) 4 times during the movie, all translated as people, in portuguese "povo" (people in a sense of "nation")

[MasterEro]

I watched the movie for the 2nd time yesterday, and kept memikyun sì menari out for that.

I heard Na'vi-yä(a) 4 times during the movie, all translated as people, in portuguese "povo" (people in a sense of "nation")

Ya. It sounds like that, but the issue is, it doesnt make any sense. The people arent in possession of anything. Im convinced that either Zoe consistently makes mistakes in her Na'vi, or there are little sayings in the language we dont know about.

Neytiri also says "Maweya tsmukan, maweya tsmukan" when she rescues jake and kills the viperwolf. I think that commands get their own special form of some kinda, similar to spanish. We just dont know what it is. 

[tsko]

So I watched it again lastnight on the big screen and it was translated to "calm people, calm".
And neytiri's father also used na'via when he was dieing, saying protect the people if I remember correctly.
Any thoughts?

[Fpeioyuyä 'ite]

It doesn't help much that the subtitles say "people," since we already know that Na'vi is used to mean people. For all that we know, they could have just as well said "Na'vi" without any added fiddly bits (conjugations, additions? blech!) and it would make just as much sense.
I think that the best explanation is that it's a command form, as Beduino said. Most languages have separate command forms, right? (I guess I'm only familiar with German and English...) I don't think that we can figure this out without knowing the rest of the language. It's got to be either a mistake on the actress's part, slang, or command form. Srak?

[Seze]

From what I remember from my time spent learning Spanish, which is not much anymore, I do vaguely remember learning about commands.  I could see this being a case where it could be a command form we don't know about yet.  For now, it seems the best course of action is to just wait until we know more...

[The old Uriuujìn]

Perhaps it's like so; Na'vi is to human as Na'vi-ya is to people.

Just a quick guess. :U

-ya with an umlaut over the 'a' signifies possession. Na'vi-y(umlaut)a would be "The People's."

[Steve]

Saw it last night in IMAX, and I had an interesting idea.  How about:

"Mawey, Na`vi, aymawey"?

The subtitle not being exactly correct.  It should have been 'Be calm, people, all of you be calm', but was abbreviated to make it easier for movie viewers to read.

Utilizing the pluralization form if 'mawey' makes total sense in the scene because Jake is being attacked by an entire group.  Naytiri starts out by addressing Tsu`tey, then turns to face Jakes other attackers.

Thoughts?

[Beduino]

Again we are in the same issue, because there is a pause between the "a/yä/ay" and the second mawey 

Like              Mawey Na'vi a/yä(pause), mawey

[Karyu Amawey]

My only problem with that solution is that the way she pronounces it, it sounds more like Na'vi-a, or Na'vi-ya. It doesn't sound like ä to me, which I have been given to understand is more of a long "a," something like ey does in Na'vi.
I may be wrong, though. And I couldn't find any other options, soo...
Good Luck ^_^

-Uryuujin

I remember reading something in which Dr. Frommer said the actor in the movie didn't always have the best pronunciation, so it's possible she had mispronounced it and it really was ä

[Doolio]

also, if it was direct addressing, it should have "ma" before "na'vi".

i'd go with mispronunciation:)

[Olo'eyktukru]

I watched the movie for the 2nd time yesterday, and kept memikyun sì menari out for that.

I heard Na'vi-yä(a) 4 times during the movie, all translated as people, in portuguese "povo" (people in a sense of "nation")

Ya. It sounds like that, but the issue is, it doesnt make any sense. The people arent in possession of anything. Im convinced that either Zoe consistently makes mistakes in her Na'vi, or there are little sayings in the language we dont know about.

Neytiri also says "Maweya tsmukan, maweya tsmukan" when she rescues jake and kills the viperwolf. I think that commands get their own special form of some kinda, similar to spanish. We just dont know what it is. 

But this could be a case of the people in possession of something. In portuguese, when we are telling: "people be calm" we can say "povo tenha calma", which translates back to "people have calm", in this case calm is a noum (as in the state of being calm). This doesn't make sense in english, but maybe in Na'vi that sentence (have calm) works too and it would translate to: "na'viyä mawey"

[damp]

I watched the movie for the 2nd time yesterday, and kept memikyun sì menari out for that.

I heard Na'vi-yä(a) 4 times during the movie, all translated as people, in portuguese "povo" (people in a sense of "nation")

Ya. It sounds like that, but the issue is, it doesnt make any sense. The people arent in possession of anything. Im convinced that either Zoe consistently makes mistakes in her Na'vi, or there are little sayings in the language we dont know about.

Neytiri also says "Maweya tsmukan, maweya tsmukan" when she rescues jake and kills the viperwolf. I think that commands get their own special form of some kinda, similar to spanish. We just dont know what it is. 

But this could be a case of the people in possession of something. In portuguese, when we are telling: "people be calm" we can say "povo tenha calma", which translates back to "people have calm", in this case calm is a noum (as in the state of being calm). This doesn't make sense in english, but maybe in Na'vi that sentence (have calm) works too and it would translate to: "na'viyä mawey"

Yeah, in portuguese this will make sense, and as you say, Na'vi is a lot different than english.

[dotster]

As I pointed out earlier, with the genitive suffix attached to na'vi, it would mean something that belongs to the na'vi, in this case calm. calm of the na'vi (calma da na'vi) ? i don't think that's it. i think it's just something we don't know yet. who knows for sure? (except for frommer)

[Doolio]

well, i kinda addressed the "maweya tsmukan issue" here:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/index.php?topic=311.msg4473#msg4473

it's mostly assumptions, but it cant hurt to link it:)

dotster:
maybe "na'viyä" means something like "na'vians" or na'vi's (as in na'vi's people, people of na'vi).

[Swok Txon]

I would go for the genitive rule in this one but its still a bit irritating not knowing the actual cause, and not to mention there are a few moments in the movie that have these kinds of results

[Nawma 'eveng]

OR it could be that Zoe Saldana pronounced it wrong  Ever thought of that possibility?

[Tirea Pa'li]

Or maybe she did it right and the sounds-editor-director-producer-in-shief-boss decided it doesnt sound good and edited the line

[Kiliyä]

Are there instances in the film of Na'vi people using the word Na'vi without the -ya/-a/-yä ending?  If not, I think it could be a good case for the word Na'vi to be their name for their world, as opposed to the people themselves.  If so, then it deserves comparison!

[Doolio]

well, "na'viyä" doesn't seem illogical to me at all. even if "na'vi" still describes their race, and not the world.

if we take that "na'vi" as a term describes the na'vi as a race, collective, society, species...not just "people" as a group of persons or "mans".
we could say that "na'viyä" would mean something as "person of the na'vi", "people of the na'vi", "na'vian people" etc.

that would mean that the translation of "na'vi" is not really "people", it is more like a word "humankind", so, "na'viyä" would be something like "humankind-ers", "belongers to the humankind" etc.