Skxawng Grammar 101

[Lisa]

So I've really been struggling with my Na'vi... I've got some basic root words down but I still crash and burn when it comes to basic sentence construction, and I'm finding myself getting discouraged.   Basically feeling like a complete skxawng. 

Three days ago I went with a good friend to a garage sale and found a book that inspired me.  I picked it up and told myself "I can do this!  I have to do this!  Failure is not an option!"    It's a children's book, designed for beginning readers; it doesn't get any more basic than this and I'm going to translate it to Na'vi.   It's a collection of three of the "Dick and Jane" books; "We Look and See; We Come and Go; We Work and Play".

Okay, you can stop laughing now.   

And once I sat down with the book, Taronyu's dictionary and the Nutshell guide, I ran into my first problem.... there is no "D" or "J" in Na'vi!  Poor Dick and Jane!  What am I going to call them?

Here is the full cast of characters:

Dick   (?)
Jane   (?)
Baby Sally   (Prrnen Sally?)
Spot (dog)   (Spot?)
Puff (cat)    (Puff?)
Father   (Sempul)
Mother   (Sa'nok)

Help with the Na'vi name pronunciation would be gratefully appreciated.

Also, there is extensive use of the interjection word "oh", as in "oh, oh, oh", and "oh, look"; is there a Na'vi equivalent?


Irayo, irayo, irayo!

ta Lisa

[Kayrìlien]

If you wanted to keep the original names and just use a Na'vi transcription, they'd be:

Tìk
Tseyn
Prrnen Säli
Spat(x)
Puf (would sound like "poof")

and you already got Sempul and Sa'nok.

This sounds like a great idea!

Kayrìlien

[Lisa]

If you wanted to keep the original names and just use a Na'vi transcription, they'd be:

Tìk
Tseyn
Prrnen Säli
Spat(x)
Puf (would sound like "poof")

Irayo, ma Kayrìlien!  That's exactly what I'd like to do, keep as much of the name as possible.  Your suggestions are perfect; I'll go with those. 

This sounds like a great idea!

Thanks!  I think this is exactly what I need to do.  Although I'm embarrassed to admit I'm still going to need a lot of help, even at this level.   


Lisa

[Lisa]

I forgot a name in the cast of characters, nang!   Tim, a teddy bear.   Would the name transcribe as Tìm?   

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

I'd go with a different name though as tìm means "multiple butts" hrh

[Lisa]

I'd go with a different name though as tìm means "multiple butts" hrh

Hahaha.... oh dear, that won't work then.     Irayo for pointing that out.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

For the "oh" you could add "nang" to the end of the sentence which marks it as an exclamation.

[Muzer]

If you wanted to keep the original names and just use a Na'vi transcription, they'd be:

Tìk
Tseyn
Prrnen Säli
Spat(x)
Puf (would sound like "poof")

and you already got Sempul and Sa'nok.

This sounds like a great idea!

Kayrìlien

Worth bearing in mind that, if you're British, Spot(x) would sound closer than Spat(x) - but not the same as the original.

[Lance R. Casey]

Puf (would sound like "poof")

F is one of those consonants that cannot occur at the end of a syllable, so you'd need to add, for example, ì, which often seems to act as a "Na'vi schwa".

[kewnya txamew'itan]

If you wanted to keep the original names and just use a Na'vi transcription, they'd be:

Tìk
Tseyn
Prrnen Säli
Spat(x)
Puf (would sound like "poof")

and you already got Sempul and Sa'nok.

This sounds like a great idea!

Kayrìlien

Worth bearing in mind that, if you're British, Spot(x) would sound closer than Spat(x) - but not the same as the original.

I'm not sure, I'd say it's pretty much as near to a as it is to o, but for British English speakers is closer to o because of the rounding. For American English speakers, it would be closer to a for the same reason.

[Muzer]

I just don't like transcribing words with an American accent

[kewnya txamew'itan]

I just don't like transcribing words with an American accent

Oh, sorry, I misread the quote, I thought you were saying that for British English it should be spat, ngaytxoa.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

What a wonderful idea to translate some of these classic stories!

I don't remember Tim the bear. I have the unfortunate problem of being named Tim, of which as we have seen here, does not have an edifying Na`vi equivalent. So, I will probably end up being the 'butt' of many Na`vi jokes (txim = butt, rear end, etc.; tim is ay+(plural affix) and Txim. The tx lenits to t, and many people drop the ay.) My nickname is 'Timba', which I will have to explore the possible Na`vi meanings of, too see if they are more edifying. In the meantime, I'll just stick to '`eylan' 

Lance, you indicated that ì tends to act as a 'Na`vi schwa'. Since ì dies not have a sound that is anything like a schwa e, I am assuming you mean this functionally, and not soundwise. (I was wondering when schwa was going to show up in a discussion somewhere.)

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Lance, you indicated that ì tends to act as a 'Na`vi schwa'. Since ì dies not have a sound that is anything like a schwa e, I am assuming you mean this functionally, and not soundwise. (I was wondering when schwa was going to show up in a discussion somewhere.)

I'd assume so based on the final ì in 'ìnglìsì and, I'm sure other places as well.

[Pxia Säsngap]

Ma Tirea Ikran, it's a cool idea to translate these stories, and I like name transcriptions as well, but (for a book translation) isn't it better to just use the original names? I mean Jake Sully is still called Jake in Pandora, even if there isn't a J in Na'vi.    So why do you want to transcribe the names? (I ask that although I would tend to do the same. hrh) Wouldn't it be easier to use the original names? If you translate it into another language you would also use the names Jane and Dick, although maybe they'd not be correct words in that language, and they would still pronounce them like in English, although in their own language they'd need to pronounce it completely different. 

[Lance R. Casey]

Lance, you indicated that ì tends to act as a 'Na`vi schwa'. Since ì dies not have a sound that is anything like a schwa e, I am assuming you mean this functionally, and not soundwise. (I was wondering when schwa was going to show up in a discussion somewhere.)

I'd assume so based on the final ì in 'ìnglìsì and, I'm sure other places as well.

Right. Other examples include Markusì ta Ngalwey (Markus), Pìraysì (Bryce), hametsì (hametz) -- and, I'd wager, -ìl and -ìri.
Also, in my ears Frommer's pronunciation of ì is consistently very lax, so it is kind of the natural candidate for schwa-ness.

[Lisa]

Ma Tirea Ikran, it's a cool idea to translate these stories, and I like name transcriptions as well, but (for a book translation) isn't it better to just use the original names? I mean Jake Sully is still called Jake in Pandora, even if there isn't a J in Na'vi.    So why do you want to transcribe the names? (I ask that although I would tend to do the same. hrh) Wouldn't it be easier to use the original names? If you translate it into another language you would also use the names Jane and Dick, although maybe they'd not be correct words in that language, and they would still pronounce them like in English, although in their own language they'd need to pronounce it completely different. 

Ma Pxia Säsngap, I considered using the original names, but I found the contrast with the Na'vi text a bit clashing.    Also, with D and J not occurring in Na'vi it just seems more correct to me to transcribe the names as closely as possible.     

[Lisa]

F is one of those consonants that cannot occur at the end of a syllable, so you'd need to add, for example, ì, which often seems to act as a "Na'vi schwa".

Oh, excellent!  So I could use Pufì?   

[Lisa]

For the "oh" you could add "nang" to the end of the sentence which marks it as an exclamation.

There's a bazillion "Oh"s in the first two books;  "Oh,oh,oh." and "Oh, [Jane][Dick][Spot]..." and "Oh, see." and "Oh, look."   No exclamation marks in the punctuation, so I'm thinking of just leaving those lines out, at least for right now.

So later on if I run into an exclamation mark in the English text, I would replace it with "nang"?   Am I understanding that correctly?

[omängum fra'uti]

It's not quite that simple...  Nang is an exclamation, sort of an emphasizer, but it can't just be thrown in any sentence.  It can be used with things like nìtxan, txantsan, and such for sure, possibly others as well.