Prefixes and Suffixes

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

Kaltxì! As you all probably know I am the teacher for Avatar Nation. I want my next lesson to be about the prefixes and suffixes of Na'vi but before I teach it, I'd like to make sure I have all the prefixes and suffixes and their correct uses.

Prefixes

tì- turns a verb or adjective into a noun

le- turns a verb or noun into an adjective

sä- (not sure how to define this one)

nì- turns a verb, adjective, or noun into an adverb.

fì- this

tsa-/sa- that/those

fay+ these

Suffixes
(This is where I have some questions: )

-yu when attached to a verb, basically means verb-er, one who performs that action. Does this suffix have an official name? I keep wanting to call it agentive, but I know that's not correct

-tu is for nouns and is basically the same as -yu. Is this productive on most/all nouns? And same as above, does this suffix have an official name?

-ur/ru (dative) used to indicate indirect object and possession in the sense of 'I have (something)' i.e. 'I have an ikran,' "lu oeru ikran."
Does it have other uses?

-ä/-yä (genetive) used to show possession in the sense of 'that is my ikran,' "Tsaw lu oeyä ikran"


Am I missing anything and are all the meanings/usages correct? Srungìri seiyi irayo nìtxan!

-Txonä Rolyu

['Oma Tirea]

sä- (not sure how to define this one)

I wouldn't worry about it.  It can be rather confusing.

tsa-/sa- that/those

Actually, tsay+ is those.  Sa- is something else that likely exists better as tsay+.

-ur/ru (dative) used to indicate indirect object and possession in the sense of 'I have (something)' i.e. 'I have an ikran,' "lu oeru ikran."

I like to think of it meaning roughly to *noun*, although this probably isn't always the case.

-tu is for nouns and is basically the same as -yu. Is this productive on most/all nouns? And same as above, does this suffix have an official name?

-tu basically means verb-ist, and it is productive, but not quite as much as -yu is.  As for the official linguistic name, I will leave that up to our fellow linguists.

More affixes:

-an, -e, which define gender
fne-, which means "type of"/"kind of"
fra-, every-noun
kaw-, no-noun
-tsyìp, the diminutive
-vi, the partitive (a division of something)

I suppose you have already covered me+, pxe+ and ay+, and are saving -pe+/pay+ for later, kefyak?

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

-tu is for nouns and is basically the same as -yu. Is this productive on most/all nouns? And same as above, does this suffix have an official name?

-tu basically means verb-ist, and it is productive, but not quite as much as -yu is.  As for the official linguistic name, I will leave that up to our fellow linguists.

verb-ist? I thought -tu was for nouns and -yu was for verbs.

More affixes:

-an, -e, which define gender
fne-, which means "type of"/"kind of"
fra-, every-noun
kaw-, no-noun
-tsyìp, the diminutive
-vi, the partitive (a division of something)

I suppose you have already covered me+, pxe+ and ay+, and are saving -pe+/pay+ for later, kefyak?

I knew I was missing some. Is kaw- an actual productive prefix? I am not seeing it in the dictionary. At least not standing by itself. Same with fne-. I am only finding "fnel."

I have covered me+, pxe+, and ay+. I was going to include -pe+ in this next lesson. pay+ is actually new to me. Looks like it's to specify when you're asking what (plural) of something kefyak?

-Txonä Rolyu

['Oma Tirea]

-tu is for nouns and is basically the same as -yu. Is this productive on most/all nouns? And same as above, does this suffix have an official name?

-tu basically means verb-ist, and it is productive, but not quite as much as -yu is.  As for the official linguistic name, I will leave that up to our fellow linguists.

verb-ist? I thought -tu was for nouns and -yu was for verbs.

Noun-ist, my mistake, hìtxoa.

More affixes:

-an, -e, which define gender
fne-, which means "type of"/"kind of"
fra-, every-noun
kaw-, no-noun
-tsyìp, the diminutive
-vi, the partitive (a division of something)

I suppose you have already covered me+, pxe+ and ay+, and are saving -pe+/pay+ for later, kefyak?

I knew I was missing some. Is kaw- an actual productive prefix? I am not seeing it in the dictionary. At least not standing by itself. Same with fne-. I am only finding "fnel."

I have covered me+, pxe+, and ay+. I was going to include -pe+ in this next lesson. pay+ is actually new to me. Looks like it's to specify when you're asking what (plural) of something kefyak?

-Txonä Rolyu

Kaw-, unlike fra- is not productive.  If you're not seeing it you probably need to update your dictionary.

Fne-, AFAIK, is freely productive on nouns (Horen Lì'fyayä LeNa'vi, 3.3.5 and 3.3.6).

Pay+ simply combines pe+ with ay+ in the same way that ay+ is combines with fì- and tsa-.

[Plumps]

I would just concentrate on the most common and freely productive. Otherwise this could be a bit much...

The newest ones:
tsuk- verb-able (productive on all transitive and a few intransitive verbs)
-fkeyk 'noun-state' (productive, as far as I understood it)
-nga' 'containing the noun' (not productive)

[Carborundum]

If you're including dative and genitive, you should also include the other cases (agentive and patientive).

[omängum fra'uti]

The overall term for tì-, sä-, *-tu and -yu is a "nominalization affix", of which only -yu is productive.
tì- on adjectives is usually the noun form of the adjective (true -> truth, painful -> pain, beloved -> love, etc)
tì- on a participle is the gerund form of a verb, and is freely productive
tì- on anything else is a noun related in some defined way to that thing

sä- is the instrumental nominal form, which presents the instrument of doing something. Since that is so vague, it is also something that is defined per use.

-yu is the doer of a verb, and can be used on most any verb.

-tu is not really the same as the rest, it's short for tute.  On adjectives, it's typically "adjective-a tute" - yawntu = yawnea tute, fyeyntu = fyeyna tute...
-tu on nouns is a person related to that noun, but must be defined specifically.
-tu on a verb is someone related to that verb who isn't directly the doer (IE spe'etu = captive, and frrfen + tu = frrtu = visitor, rather than frrfenyu)

Also don't forget the attribution affix, a-/-a for adjectives.

Really, I'm not sure it's useful to teach the unproductive prefixes as a lesson...  Rather just teach the words produced with them.  For the productive ones, it might make more sense to group them by what they do, as there are several different types of affixes there.  Then there's interactions between them...  For example you can only use one determiner prefix (fì, tsa, pe, kaw, fra) but some of them can be combined the grammatical number (me, pxe, ay) and then they can be combined with fne- as well...

Just listing prefixes leaves off a lot of information.

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

If you're including dative and genitive, you should also include the other cases (agentive and patientive).

I have gone over those in my verb transitivity lesson. I covered those first since verb transitivity seems to be one thing that confuses people the most. I'm always being asked about it. 

[/quote]

I would just concentrate on the most common and freely productive. Otherwise this could be a bit much...

The newest ones:
tsuk- verb-able (productive on all transitive and a few intransitive verbs)
-fkeyk 'noun-state' (productive, as far as I understood it)
-nga' 'containing the noun' (not productive)

Hmm, never heard of -nga' nor can I find it in my dictionary (iPhone app). -fkeyk sounds vaguely familiar but I'm not clear on its use. Still can't find fne- or kaw-

I know tì-, le-, and nì- are not freely productive, but I still want to include them. I'll make a note that they are not freely productive and you can't just stick them on any ol word you want.

So far what I have is:

tì-, le-, nì-, sä-, fì-/fay+, tsa-/tsay+, fra-, tsuk-, pay+ for prefixes.

-yu, -tu, dative, genetive, -an/-e, -tsyìp, -vi, -nga' for suffixes

And the affix -pe+

Edit: Just looked at Paul's blog and I'm pretty clear on -nga' now. Looking for -fkeyk and reviewing tsuk-.

The overall term for tì-, sä-, *-tu and -yu is a "nominalization affix", of which only -yu is productive.
tì- on adjectives is usually the noun form of the adjective (true -> truth, painful -> pain, beloved -> love, etc)
tì- on a participle is the gerund form of a verb, and is freely productive
tì- on anything else is a noun related in some defined way to that thing

sä- is the instrumental nominal form, which presents the instrument of doing something. Since that is so vague, it is also something that is defined per use.

-yu is the doer of a verb, and can be used on most any verb.

-tu is not really the same as the rest, it's short for tute.  On adjectives, it's typically "adjective-a tute" - yawntu = yawnea tute, fyeyntu = fyeyna tute...
-tu on nouns is a person related to that noun, but must be defined specifically.
-tu on a verb is someone related to that verb who isn't directly the doer (IE spe'etu = captive, and frrfen + tu = frrtu = visitor, rather than frrfenyu)

Also don't forget the attribution affix, a-/-a for adjectives.

Really, I'm not sure it's useful to teach the unproductive prefixes as a lesson...  Rather just teach the words produced with them.  For the productive ones, it might make more sense to group them by what they do, as there are several different types of affixes there.  Then there's interactions between them...  For example you can only use one determiner prefix (fì, tsa, pe, kaw, fra) but some of them can be combined the grammatical number (me, pxe, ay) and then they can be combined with fne- as well...

Just listing prefixes leaves off a lot of information.

That's why I'm asking questions here. To get the information.

For the unproductive prefixes, I just want to mention them so the students can see what they are and what they do. As I said earlier, I will say that they are not freely productive (and give examples of the words that use them).

Couple questions:
For the gerund form of a verb, doesn't that also use <us>?
-tu looks pretty freely productive, tho you said that it's not. I presume all the words that use it are in the dictionary then?
Can you elaborate a bit more on the interactions of prefixes? 

-Txonä Rolyu

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

For the unproductive prefixes, I just want to mention them so the students can see what they are and what they do. As I said earlier, I will say that they are not freely productive (and give examples of the words that use them).

If you hadn't said this, I was going to say this. Even if affixes are not productive, they do form patterns with words and they need to be understood.

[quote author=Txonä Te Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyus
Couple questions:
For the gerund form of a verb, doesn't that also use <us>?
-tu looks pretty freely productive, tho you said that it's not. I presume all the words that use it are in the dictionary then?
Can you elaborate a bit more on the interactions of prefixes? 
[/quote]

The gerund form is typically <tì>t<us>aron, but there are other ways to indicate a 'gerund'. One of them is simply to use the <er> infix in a verb to indicate continuing action. The other is the active participle, t<us>aron when you need a verb that acts like an adjective. The <tì>t<us>aron also has the limitation that it cannot take arguments. This is because the verb has essentially become a noun.

All the -tu words are in the dictionary.

As far as the prenoun prefixes go, there is a table in Wm Annis's Horen leNa`vi that shows how these all work together. The prenouns are very important and useful affixes, and I am glad you are preparing a lesson on them.

['Oma Tirea]

-tu looks pretty freely productive, tho you said that it's not. I presume all the words that use it are in the dictionary then?
 

All the -tu words are in the dictionary.

..and yet toward the bottom of the dictionary -tu is marked with a -pro.
Still though, I would have to agree with Omängum, as he also explains why -tu isn't as productive as -yu.

Also don't forget the attribution affix, a-/-a for adjectives.

I was going to mention that in my post above, but it is a special affix that should probably be reserved for its own lesson, perhaps tied in with fwa, futa, furia, etc.

[omängum fra'uti]

The gerund form is typically <tì>t<us>aron, but there are other ways to indicate a 'gerund'. One of them is simply to use the <er> infix in a verb to indicate continuing action. The other is the active participle, t<us>aron when you need a verb that acts like an adjective. The <tì>t<us>aron also has the limitation that it cannot take arguments. This is because the verb has essentially become a noun.

Only tì-us- is the gerund form (and possibly tì-awn-, not 100% sure if that's allowed).  The gerund isn't a verb indicating continuing action, it's a noun about the action of the verb.  Likewise, the participle is an adjective form.  It's just that English is all strange and uses the same form for all 3, and lets the rest of grammar indicate which is meant.  In Na'vi they are all different.

Not sure I'd agree that -a/a- relates to fwa, futa, et. al...  The affix is just an adjective attribution, and while it's related to the clause attributive, it's a lot simpler.

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

The gerund form is typically <tì>t<us>aron, but there are other ways to indicate a 'gerund'. One of them is simply to use the <er> infix in a verb to indicate continuing action. The other is the active participle, t<us>aron when you need a verb that acts like an adjective. The <tì>t<us>aron also has the limitation that it cannot take arguments. This is because the verb has essentially become a noun.

Only tì-us- is the gerund form (and possibly tì-awn-, not 100% sure if that's allowed).  The gerund isn't a verb indicating continuing action, it's a noun about the action of the verb.  Likewise, the participle is an adjective form.  It's just that English is all strange and uses the same form for all 3, and lets the rest of grammar indicate which is meant.  In Na'vi they are all different.

This is why I referred to the two other forms as 'gerunds'. As you point out, the commonality here is all three of these forms can translate into an English word that ends in -ing. I should have been more clear about this.

Not sure I'd agree that -a/a- relates to fwa, futa, et. al...  The affix is just an adjective attribution, and while it's related to the clause attributive, it's a lot simpler.

I am finding attribution, especially in complex sentences, to be something that is coming only slowly. So, it is very much worth its own lesson, or even several lessons. (And I wish I had more time to really study and work on Na`vi. Time is something younger folks seem to be blessed with a large amount of! To the younger folks here: enjoy it while you can!)

[omängum fra'uti]

Right, attribution of clauses can be a bit complex.  But attribution of adjectives is simple.  You have an 'a' between the adjective and noun it describes.  Done.  Clauses can get more complex.

[Txonä Unil Stä'nìyu Rolyusì]

The gerund form is typically <tì>t<us>aron, but there are other ways to indicate a 'gerund'. One of them is simply to use the <er> infix in a verb to indicate continuing action. The other is the active participle, t<us>aron when you need a verb that acts like an adjective. The <tì>t<us>aron also has the limitation that it cannot take arguments. This is because the verb has essentially become a noun.

and that is where you lost me. Someone tried to explain that to me a while back but it didn't stick in my mind. I have no idea what an "argument" is or what it means to "take an argument"

I am finding attribution, especially in complex sentences, to be something that is coming only slowly. So, it is very much worth its own lesson, or even several lessons. (And I wish I had more time to really study and work on Na`vi. Time is something younger folks seem to be blessed with a large amount of! To the younger folks here: enjoy it while you can!)

You can say that again. I need more practice in the usage of the 'f words.'

About that: I wish. I and many of my friends are either in college or in high school and I can say that they are both VERY time consuming. I most certainly don't have as much time as I'd like to be here immersing myself in Na'vi.

-Txonä Rolyu