Comparison Help

Started by Stranger Come Knocking, March 13, 2015, 09:03:05 AM

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Kame Ayyo’koti

Or perhaps even:
Nga tsun pivlltxe fa aylì'fya nì'ul to oe.
"Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

Blue Elf

Quote from: Tanri on March 13, 2015, 07:13:28 PM
I like your "scalability" idea, ma Plumps.

However, I'd like to notice that we are comparing nouns, nothing else. We compare them using some property/feature as an quantifier.
The key lies in the fact that some verbs already have such quantifier included - those verbs whose effect is scalable. I don't know if all of the stative or "to be..." verbs fall in this category, but some of them yes, for sure.
Non-scalable verbs cannot be used for comparison, unless we add some quantifier to them. In that case, we do not compare using the verb itself, but only by the external quantifier. We can use the same verb with different quantifiers for comparison of different properties. For example:

Oeyä ikran tswayon nìwin to pum ngeyä. - "My ikran flies faster than yours."
In this case, the quantifier is the adverb nìwin, we compare the speed.

Oeyä ikran tswayon nìkxayl to pum ngeyä. - "My ikran flies higher than yours."
In this case, the quantifier is the adverb nìkxayl, we compare the altitude.


So, I think that discussion about usability of the verbs for comparison is not the right one, because we don't compare by the verbs alone.
We use some attributes/properties/characteristics for comparison, and those quantifiers are usually adverbs or adjectives.
Only few verbs contain enough "scalability" within itself, that we can compare using them alone, without adverbs or adjectives.


Back to the original topic:
Quote from: Stranger Come Knocking
Original: "Not fair!  You know more languages than I do!"
My Na'vi: Kea miuä!  Aylì'fyari nga to oe omum!
Line of Thought: No fair!  As for (the number of) languages, you know more.
The original and the third line seems to me completely different:

Ngal to oel omum pxaya lì'fyati - You know more languages than I do!
We are comparing the amount/number of the languages, using the adjective pxay.

Aylì'fyari, nga oeta omum nì'ul - As for the languages, you know more than me.
Here we do not compare the number of languages, but the fact how we know, specified by the adverb nì'ul.
Nice analysis, Tanri. It's good appendix for Plumps' thoughts.
Oe lu skxawng skxakep. Slä oe nerume mi.
"Oe tasyätxaw ulte koren za'u oehu" (Limonádový Joe)


Vawmataw

#22
+1 to the analysis of Tanri.

Quote from: Kame Ayyo'koti on March 14, 2015, 12:33:10 AM
For knowing (that is: speaking/understanding) languages omum seems ambiguous to me, although that's how we say it in English. Since the Na'vi don't write they would only speak or understand a language (if there were other languages on Pandora), so perhaps it would be better to say:
Ngal to oel aylì'fyati plltxe nì'ul.
Or:
Ngal to oel aylì'fyati tslam nì'ul.

As Kema pointed out, nì'ul seems ambiguous as to whether the "moreness" applies to the number of languages or the amount of speaking/understanding. This is an issue I've had with adverbs before, but that's a discussion for another thread.
I know that one can say X-l plltxe faylì'ut, but can one say X-l plltxe lì'fyati?
With plltxe, maybe someone can say:
Quote from: Kame Ayyo'koti on March 14, 2015, 12:36:25 AM
Nga tsun pivlltxe fa aylì'fya nì'ul to oe.
I also thought about: Nga oeto plltxe nìfya'o a nì'ul.
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Kemaweyan

Quote from: Vawmataw on March 14, 2015, 03:39:06 PM
I know that you can say X-l plltxe faylì'ut, but can one say X-l plltxe lì'fyati?
With plltxe, maybe someone can say:
Quote from: Kame Ayyo'koti on March 14, 2015, 12:36:25 AM
Nga tsun pivlltxe fa aylì'fya nì'ul to oe.
I also thought about: Nga oeto plltxe nìfya'o a nì'ul.

I agree. The verb plltxe can have a direct object which points what you say. I.e. it could be words, phrase, speech etc. But not a language. We don't say *Oel plltxe lì'fyat leNa'vi, instead we use an adverb nìNa'vi (nì'Ìnglìsì, nìRuski etc.). And you're right that it's a way how one speaks.

But I'm not sure that your example with nìfya'o a nì'ul would be correct. I think it should be nì'fya'o apxay :-\
Nìrangal frapo tsirvun pivlltxe nìNa'vi :D

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Tirea Aean on March 13, 2015, 07:43:00 PM
Quote from: Just now, on TeamSpeak

<20:40:50> "Neytiri": Ngaru smon pxaya lì'fya to oer.


^ I still think this is a really nice and natural and concise viable option.

Not to say that others here are not. This thread contains many other ideas and means of expressing this thought. If I read most of the things you all have been coming up with, I'd pretty much arrive at a similar or same concept in general.