Na'vi Slang

Started by Mako, May 26, 2020, 04:06:22 PM

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Mako

Another language update! This time concerning slang. Dialogue below.

Quote from: Mako
Kaltxì ma Karyu!

My wife and I were discussing Na'vi slang on the way to Sacramento this morning and it reminded me of a question I've been meaning to ask you!

The phrase ke omum is common enough in spoken Na'vi that I wondered if the Na'vi would ever slang that as komum?

Curious about your thoughts.

Sìlpey oe, ngari frawzo.

ta Mako

Quote from: Karyu Pawl
Hey Mako/Seth!

I'd say that's entirely possible, and even likely. It's the kind of thing that happens in language all the time. (The stress would remain on the second syllable: ko.MUM)

We have plenty of parallels in English, of course: don't know > dunno; come on > c'mon, going to > gonna.

That last one is particularly interesting, I think, given the various stages of "relaxation" it's likely to have gone through:

1. going to
2. going ta
3. goin' ta  ("Dropping g's" is a well-known dialectal phenomenon.)
4. goin' na ( Part of a more general process, where -nt- under certain circumstances becomes simply n. No one in So. Cal. says "Santa Monica." It's always "Sanna Monica."
5. gonna (The two adjacent vowels simplify to one.)

In some non-standard varieties, there's a 6th step: "gonna" simplifies all the way down to "a"! So you have things like "I'm a whup you upside da head!" where "a" is all that's left of "going to."

I haven't done too much with Na'vi slang, but it'll be interesting to see what kinds of things develop naturally within the community!

Stay safe in Sacto.

P.

Toliman

Eltur tìtxen si :) Irayo for sharing!

Plumps

Interesting how even his perception of the language changes.

If I remember correctly, we had the same idea about ke omum becoming komum in colloquial speech a few years back and back then he seemed to be opposed to the idea ... that only shows you how much a language in use is a language in flux ;)

Thank you so much for the confirmation.