Anyone want to help me learn all about Na'vi grammar?

Started by tw296, February 09, 2016, 08:35:45 AM

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tw296

Hi, I am doing my undergraduate dissertation on invented languages and I would love to learn more about the Na'vi language! I have a survey already prepared if there is anyone willing to answer it for me?

Tìtstewan

Hello and welcome!

Several members can help you regarding Na'vi language. :) As for the survey, I can answer it, but I should let you know that, unfortunately, only a few members can participate due to the low activity at the moment.

Also, it could be useful to check some older surveys:
http://forum.learnnavi.org/beginners/navi-research-study/ (pdf)
http://forum.learnnavi.org/beginners/dissertation-on-conlangs/
http://forum.learnnavi.org/beginners/questionnaire-for-navi-learners/

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BlueHusky2154

I could help you a little bit, but not a lot.
Try talking to Tirea Aean. He could help you out a lot.
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tw296

Thank you for your responses! If you can answer it as best you can that'd be great! Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DAqSj2_xj9f5_ujn869ZrtCS0ycsROvk9RGhDpS0JCg/viewform?usp=send_form

Many thanks,
Tegan

Hahaw[hhvhhvcz]

Kaltxì - Hello

Atm, I am doing you survey and i have some thing on it.

IMHO of non-native English speaker, I am worried that the survey contain too much linguistic terms.
I mean, not many people know these terms and even I learn them in my native language - they are in Latin, not English -; i have some problems with understanding it. I'd also say that you chose not good examples at all.

Edit: I've finished it and only first site was scared filled with ling. terms. You also surprised me with amount of information. You had forced me to google them. :)
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Blue Elf

Well, questionnaire is not easy, seems to be proposed for people with good linguistic background. I'll try to fill it later, when I have more time to discover those terms I'm not familiar with.
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Tìtstewan

tw296,

I just checked the survey and I have a question about it. Is this survey about the member's "knowledge" about Na'vi or is this a survey about the liguistic features of the Na'vi language? This survey looks for me as if it were written for a community that creates constructed languages, but LearnNa'vi.org is a place where one can learn Na'vi. I particulary asking that because there are a lot of questions that ask about language features for that - in case of Na'vi - can be answered by various (re)sources, like the Reference Grammar of Na'vi.

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tw296

Thanks for all your feedback and questions. I do understand that it is a bit tricky with all the linguistic terminology and i did try to simplify it as much as possible! Sorry for the complexity that remains! thanks for answering it as best as possible though! I just thought i'd put it on here to see what information i would be able to find! If i have any unanswered questions after looking at the reference grammar and the survey results would it be okay to ask and see if anyone knows on here?

Thanks!

Tìtstewan

I want to mention that it could happen that you will get incorrect, uncomplete and inconsistent results by the fact that this survey seems to be directed to any participants. My concern is that the majority of the quesions aren't questions regarding personal use or point of view of a participant regarding the Na'vi language. One would need a deep knowledge about Na'vi to answer most of the questions properly and I am not sure how do you plan to verify the results in order to get a valid source for your dissertation.

Just an example what I mean:
From the morphology page:
If your language has a case system, is it one of the following?
(If 'other' please specify)
    Nominative-accusative
    Ergative-absolutive
    Others: _________

Na'vi used to be a split-ergative language, but I can't remember me that Paul Frommer has communicated that and in the reference, point 6.1.2.2, is maroon as it is not 100% clear.

As I indicated in my previous post, your survey appears to be directed to conlang creators rather than the learner of a conlang.

Let us take a look at the question on the page "general questions about your language":
What is the name of your language?
You will get 3-5 times "Na'vi" here with 3-5 slightly different results... I don't think that this is what you really attempt to get. However, please, correct me of my observation is incorrect.
IF this survey is directed to conlang creators, here are indeed some members that creates their own conlang one can read in this board.

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Wllìm

Kaltxì ma tw296!

This is a comprehensive and awesome survey. I agree with Tìtstewan however that we shouldn't fill this in for Na'vi all separately. I can mostly answer the grammatical questions, but I don't feel entiitled to answer the last page with questions like why did you create the conlang? since I didn't create it: we're all just humble learners here ;)

So maybe we can fill out the questionnaire together on this forum, in the open? Then we can just discuss and check the answers, so we are sure it is corrrect. And you won't get duplicate submissions for the same language  :)

Ma Tìtstewan, I would classify the Na'vi case system as tripartite, by the way :)

Tìtstewan

Quote from: Wllìm on February 10, 2016, 11:15:34 AM
So maybe we can fill out the questionnaire together on this forum, in the open? Then we can just discuss and check the answers, so we are sure it is corrrect. And you won't get duplicate submissions for the same language  :)
This is exactly the thing I try to carry my point to. Paul used to be super busy and we can help to answer a lot of questions of that survey together.
I can copy-past the questions here in a spoiler with my answers, but only if tw296 would agree with that.

Quote from: Wllìm on February 10, 2016, 11:15:34 AM
Ma Tìtstewan, I would classify the Na'vi case system as tripartite, by the way :)
Yes, that's right, but Na'vi is to 99% tripartite or ergative-accusative, there are some tricky verbs that use the topic case as in lì'fyari leNa'vi oe nume, which is a subject-topical structure.

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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

I'll check your survey out tonight. I think that David Peterson knows of this, and has been spreading it around as well. I'll also post it on the Dothraki/Valyrian forums if it looks appropriate.

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Tìtstewan

Apparentely, this survey (or whatever it supposed to be) died by design issue... :(

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