A new participle infix: ‹awn›

[wm.annis]

In an email discussion about vocabulary matters, Karyu Pawl said this of someone's words — Aylì'u apawnlltxe nìltsan!.  It took me a few seconds to realize what I was seeing.  Then I asked for confirmation.  Was there really an object adjective (aka passive participle) infix? 

-us- and -awn- are parallel infixes--active and passive participles respectively.

ioang apuslltxe
lì'fya apawnlltxe

[omängum fra'uti]

Txantsan!  Leru tsaw nawnew!
(Yeah I know it's a bit awkward of a sentence because it's contrived to use awn.)

[Plumps]

Amazing news! Thanks for sharing!

So, that means "spoken words" ?

[Kemaweyan]

Irayo nìtxan! Set oe pìyeng ayeylanur oeyä nìwotx

Rutxe nari si: nì+<awn>+omum Awngal omum fìlì'ut

[roger]

So it would seem that Na'vi has passive participles, but not passive clauses of the "X was said by Y" variety. Paul has said he's avoided that kind of construction, and AFAIK there is no word for the "by" that we would need to create it. Like the lack of /b d g/, this seems to be a point that we were meant to work around.

[omängum fra'uti]

Passive voice he said would be based on word order emphasis...

Eg. Frapol ayerikti teraron - Everyone hunts hexapods
Ayerikit frapol teraron - Hexapods are hunted by everyone
Ayerikit teraron frapol - Hexapods are hunted by EVERYONE

But working around the lack of <awn> is a lot more cumbersome...

Ayerik atawnaron - Hunted hexapods
Ayerik a fot fkol teraron - Hexapods that are hunted

[roger]

Do you know that it's "ayerik", or are you making that assumption? That's s.t. I've been wondering about.

[omängum fra'uti]

It's an assumption, but on the grand scale of assumptions, it seems like a reasonably safe one to make.  However knowing is always nicer than assuming.

[Swoka Swizaw]

Finally, an infix with "n." I was wondering if he'd use that.

[Lance R. Casey]

Rutxe nari si: nì+<awn>+omum Awngal omum fìlì'ut

Tewti! Tsalì'u ahiyìk law lam set. Nga eltu sarmatsi nìltsan!

[Kì'eyawn]

Huzzah!  I have more translations to fix!

Edit:  I just had a thought:  What does it mean if we stick this infix inside of an intransitive verb?  Or would it be meaningless?  Like, does *r<awn>ey mean anything?

[okrìsti]

Edit:  I just had a thought:  What does it mean if we stick this infix inside of an intransitive verb?  Or would it be meaningless?  Like, does *r<awn>ey mean anything?

I think so. I have made up these: aysìpawnlltxe or aysìpawneng

[omängum fra'uti]

I think your melì'u just broke my eltu.

[roger]

Huzzah!  I have more translations to fix!

Edit:  I just had a thought:  What does it mean if we stick this infix inside of an intransitive verb?  Or would it be meaningless?  Like, does *r<awn>ey mean anything?

The only way it could mean anything was if it transitivized the verb, "my life was lived well" etc. English is pretty flexible that way, but don't know about Na'vi

[Kì'eyawn]

Huzzah!  I have more translations to fix!

Edit:  I just had a thought:  What does it mean if we stick this infix inside of an intransitive verb?  Or would it be meaningless?  Like, does *r<awn>ey mean anything?

The only way it could mean anything was if it transitivized the verb, "my life was lived well" etc. English is pretty flexible that way, but don't know about Na'vi

Hmm, so... would tawnerkup be... dead?  Or am i misunderstanding how this participle works?

[Tsamsteu]

theoretically, i believe it past participle of die is dead, so the verb terkup would take up the "awn" infix, tawnerkup...just have to make sure if u have a noun you add the adjectival prefix accordingly! ...tawtute atawnerkup. (dead skyperson?)

[Plumps]

No, I don't think you do ... but it's "died" as in "the died father" I'm not sure whether this is common in English - I guess, English uses "late" for somebody who died: "the late father" or simply "the father who died"
In German it's possible to say "died father"

[omängum fra'uti]

<awn> is PASSIVE participle, not PAST participle

[Tsamsteu]

..or is it a past participle in passive voice...what is a passive participle? cause i agree that i think it would be "died," but past participle is used to create a perfect tense or passive voice..."has eaten" vs "was eaten"..

[wm.annis]

..or is it a past participle in passive voice...what is a passive participle? cause i agree that i think it would be "died," but past participle is used to create a perfect tense or passive voice..."has eaten" vs "was eaten"..

We're screwed up by the English language here.  We only have a past passive participle.  We have no good way to express a tenseless, passive participle, which ‹awn› is.  So we have to fake it with our past passive participle.