more grammatical tidbits

[roger]

Since I've been asked to combine releases, I plan on adding to this post over the next couple days, so you might want to check back.

conjunctions &c.: however, although, instead

We've finally got Grace's first line!

Tsun tivam. Aylì'u ngian nì'it skepek lu.
Not bad. (= [that] can do.) You sound rather formal. (= [your] words, however, are a bit formal.)

ngian = however ADV
skepek = formal (stress not confirmed; taken from the film)

I don't know if ngian can be used as a conjunction ("I'll make it however you like.") However (ngian), I imagine that that might be spelled out as "that way which (you like)", and that ngian is only used as an adverb, as here. (Frommer only glosses it as an adverb.)

We do have a couple other conjunctions, hufwa I don't have examples of their use:

hufwa = although CONJ
tup = instead of, rather than CONJ

I assume hufwa is a compound of hu 'together with' and fwa 'that' (subordinating conjunction), as in "with = given that I want to go" --> "although I want to go", but it's not too clear to me.

It would be cool if we could say ??poru ngatup "(gave it) to him rather than you", but I don't know if we can. We'd lose the dative on "you" that way, which could be a problem. (Could be read as "I rather than you gave it to him".)

indefinite pronouns
Made by tacking -o on a noun:

'uo something
tuteo somebody
tsengo somewhere

Wonder if there's a connection between this -o and the o- that seems to derive oeyk 'a cause' from eyk 'to lead'.

how much/many
We have holpxay 'number' from hol 'few' + pxay 'many'. Add pe and we get holpxaype, polpxay "how many".

Same thing w "how much": txan is 'much' (great quantity), a new word hìm 'a little' (small quantity), for hìmtxan 'amount' and hìmtxampe, pìmtxan "how much".

Note the contraction so that the pe is always adjacent to the stress. In lì'upe, pelì'u "what (word)" the stress shifts for the same result; I'm not sure yet if it's supposed to or if that was a typo. Anyway, that's all the preconstructed interrogatives.

[end of updates]

[Kemaweyan]

Tewti! Set oel tslolam tsaylì'ut ulte prrte' leiu

[Plumps]

Irayo futa ngal ayoengar tìng fìfmawnit

[NeotrekkerZ]

Hufwa awnga nolume txana ayu, oe frakrr nolew ivomum ralit faylì'uyä.  Txantsan!

[Skyinou]

It would be cool if we could say ??poru ngatup "(gave it) to him rather than you", but I don't know if we can. We'd lose the dative on "you" that way, which could be a problem. (Could be read as "I rather than you gave it to him".)

Why not "ngarutup" then?

[roger]

I don't know if we can double up case/adposition endings like that. If we can, then that would work.

[Plumps]

But that would work against all we've learned so far and only confuse all those who wanted to put case endings on nouns after adpositions ... Frommer always uses the 'nominative' / caseless form of the (pro)noun after an adposition.

[Kemaweyan]

Tewti! Irayo Txantsana fmawm a san -o sìk, san holpxaype sìk sì lahe...

[Skyinou]

I don't know if we can double up case/adposition endings like that. If we can, then that would work.

We already have "horentisì" from Frommer, is it different from a linguistical point of view?

[omängum fra'uti]

sì isn't an adposition, it's a conjunction.

[roger]

Tup, like sì, is labeled a conjunction.

[NeotrekkerZ]

indefinite pronouns
Made by tacking -o on a noun:

'uo something
tuteo somebody
tsengo somewhere

So is someone fkoyo, fko, or something else?

[omängum fra'uti]

Someone in English is a synonym for somebody, so tuteo I would use for someone.

[NeotrekkerZ]

Ah yes, a much easier way.

[roger]

It's actually glossed as "someone", but I'm trying to keep "X-one" for po-derivatives and "X-body" for tute-derivatives. Not really a meaningful distinction in English, but we may have a difference in Na'vi between tsa'u "that thing", tsapo "that one (animate)", and tsatu "that person": it's not yet clear.

[Txur’Itan]

Someone in English is a synonym for somebody, so tuteo I would use for someone.

Whats worse is all of the dictionaries use some person as the definition for finding synonyms. LOL

However there are two definitions.

pronoun . An unspecified or unknown person.

n. A person of unique qualities.

It is possible that these definitions are segregated.

[Taronyu]

Added everything.