More confusion (topical)

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

One more item I saw today (in the same thread that sparked the two questions I asked earlier), is the use of the topical:

Furia ngal hawnu oet, oe ngaru si irayo.

Why is the topical appropriate here? I don't seem to see a discernible rule for proper use of the topical. And the one time I used the topical for a case of inalienable possession, it was one of those cases where it shouldn't have been used 

['Oma Tirea]

One more item I saw today (in the same thread that sparked the two questions I asked earlier), is the use of the topical:

Furia ngal hawnu oet, oe ngaru si irayo.

Why is the topical appropriate here? I don't seem to see a discernible rule for proper use of the topical. And the one time I used the topical for a case of inalienable possession, it was one of those cases where it shouldn't have been used 

I thank you for [you] preparing me

tslam set srak?

[wm.annis]

Furia ngal hawnu oet, oe ngaru si irayo.

Why is the topical appropriate here?

Because the thing or action you thank someone for goes into the topical.  There are a few of these idiomatic uses where the topical is just required. 

I don't seem to see a discernible rule for proper use of the topical.

There is really nothing that matches the topical in English, or indeed most indo-european languages.  That makes it hard to understand for a lot of people.  Only years of Mandarin and a some Japanese leave me in a position to cope with it somewhat more easily.  We also haven't gotten firm rules from Frommer on this, so we have to rely on the few times he uses it to get a feel for proper use of the Na'vi topical.  Since our corpus is still so small, this makes it hard to develop rules.  Really, the topical is a construction that comes into its own in conversations — not isolated example sentences.