Project GreenQuill ~ Increasing the Na'Vi Lexicon

Started by Plltxeyu, February 27, 2010, 10:03:56 AM

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Plltxeyu

Brothers and sisters,

I know I'm kind of new to this, but even I know that Na'Vi has over 1000 words. Very impressive for such a young language. However there are still words we don't have a translation for.
(Correct me if I'm wrong) Frommer has announced that he is still working out a deal with
Quotethose who have brought us "Avatar" and the world of Pandora
for rights to expand the language to it's fullest extent.

Frommer has said in many interviews that he has created words on a "as need" basis. Instead of waiting and analyzing everything he sends us for insight on new words, why don't we try to help him out. We should collectively come up with a list of words that we think the Na'Vi language needs the most. That way, we can be ready to expand the language as soon as Frommer receives the OK.

Any thoughts?

Erimeyz

It's a good idea!

There's a page on the Learn Na'vi wiki for collecting that kind of information: http://wiki.learnnavi.org/index.php?title=Desired_Vocabulary .  Check it out and see if it's the kind of thing you're contemplating.

Also, there's a forum thread for collecting other types of information we'd like Frommer to supply besides just vocabulary.

  - Eri



Plltxeyu

It is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of. Irayo for that link.

I have seen the thread that you suggested and that to me seemed more like a list of grammatical questions (which are equally as important) rather than words we want to add to our vocabulary.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but regular viewers cannot edit the wiki page. (Which is a good thing, because if we could it would be chaos.)

Because of that, I think this thread should be for suggesting words to add to that wiki page.
If anyone has ideas for new words that are not on the list below, please post here.

Irayo!

--------
Currently the words on the wiki page are as follows:

remember (possible 'ok si (seyki?) for remind and 'ok säpi for remember; but a transitive root may be easier in the long run — WmAnnis and Prrton)
forget
meet (make acquaintance; go to a meeting)
say (if not plltxe)
vanish, disappear
annoy, irritate, bother
worry
trick, cheat
wake up (txen si/säpi for intransitive, txen seyki for transitive — Prrton)
sit (down)
taste (note "I taste the food" vs. "the food tastes funky")
continue, keep on
pick up (off a surface)
to be born
hide (tr. and intr.)
to confuse (or be confused)
interest, be interesting (be fascinating)
boring, dull
to tire, make tired, be tired, sleepy, etc.
calculate, figure out
verify semantic range of tung (allow, permit, etc.)
ignore
join (a group)
complete, finish ('‹eyk›i'a ?)
suffer, endure, put up with, tolerate
already
to compare
to be sure/confident
to wonder
to joke/tease
to fail/mess up
to plan
to design
to hate/detest/despise
to be surprised (in a good way)
to be shocked (by something perceived as negative)
to forgive
to argue
luck, chance
thing
happy
sad

Erimeyz

Actually, anonymous users can't edit the wiki pages, but anyone can create an account (it's even easier than creating an account on the forum), and anyone can edit the pages after they've created their account.

Regardless, I think posting ideas on this forum thread is a good idea, so that we can discuss them.  The wiki is a good place to store things, the forum is a good place to talk about things.

  - Eri

pbhead

I think we need words for "little" (as in ketxan, which is what i have been using... (not much))

and..

grey, soft, and head.

so i can change my name to soft, grey fngap head.

Nume fpi sänume

yeah, I think a list of words that we need would be a great thing to have, just to give to Frommer to decide what it is he wants to give us. As long as your not trying to make up your own Na'vi words, im fine with this thread being open.

wm.annis

Quote from: pbhead on February 27, 2010, 01:46:03 PM
I think we need words for "little" (as in ketxan, which is what i have been using... (not much))

Why not use hì'i?

We have been promised some color words (during the Good Morning America discussion with him, evidently), so I hesitate to add any to the list until we hear fro Karyu Pawl about those.

Skyinou

Let's rock with The Tanners!

'eylan na'viyä

i think this is a good place to gather not only unknown words but also thoughts/discussions about the real meaning of known or unknown words

e.g.:
i wonder if the na'vi have a word for "translation", not paraphrase ?
did they have the concept of translating before human arrived?
to answer this you would need to know if there other languages or dialects spoken on pandora.
or is there a more general word that might include interpreting gestures, animal voices, ... ?

Tsway'eion

Quote from: 'eylan na'viyä on February 27, 2010, 03:27:56 PM
e.g.:
i wonder if the na'vi have a word for "translation", not paraphrase ?
did they have the concept of translating before human arrived?
to answer this you would need to know if there other languages or dialects spoken on pandora.
or is there a more general word that might include interpreting gestures, animal voices, ... ?

Translate also means to interpret, and the word for interpret is ralpeng, so i guess you could use that.  :)

Kemaweyan

#10
Kaltxì

I would like to know more colors. Now we have only two colors: blue and yellow. Not necessarily a lot of colors, least the basic only: red, green, black, white etc.

Irayo ;)
Nìrangal frapo tsirvun pivlltxe nìNa'vi :D

'eylan na'viyä

Quote from: Tsway'eion on February 27, 2010, 03:56:38 PM
Quote from: 'eylan na'viyä on February 27, 2010, 03:27:56 PM
e.g.:
i wonder if the na'vi have a word for "translation", not paraphrase ?
did they have the concept of translating before human arrived?
to answer this you would need to know if there other languages or dialects spoken on pandora.
or is there a more general word that might include interpreting gestures, animal voices, ... ?

Translate also means to interpret, and the word for interpret is ralpeng, so i guess you could use that.  :)

i also thought about ralpeng, it comes close but its only 1directional. im shure that its no problem to find a paraphrase for "translation", and that everyone would understand it. maybe there is even no need for this actual word in Na'vi.

i wanted to point out that we should try to ask for concepts instead of clear eqivalents.

if we ask how to describe a specific situation insead of asking for words there would be more space for creativity.
i know that karyu frommer thinks about the actual meaning of words when he creates them, but good questions might be a helpfull inspiration. So it might be a bit easier for him to find the word that fits best to the spirit of the language.

If there is a way to help him, then i think it would be to tell him how we interprete, use and think about the language.

pbhead

Quote from: wm.annis on February 27, 2010, 02:45:19 PM
Quote from: pbhead on February 27, 2010, 01:46:03 PM
I think we need words for "little" (as in ketxan, which is what i have been using... (not much))

Why not use hì'i?



well, I would like to say something like "I know a little navi"... and little in that case is different from small.

small boy and little boy work... but not for something of quantity... like I have a little money vs I have small money.

roger


Plltxeyu

So...
Currently the words that we have decided to put on the list are;

Quote
Kemaweyan:
I would like to know more colors. Now we have only two colors: blue and yellow. Not necessarily a lot of colors, least the basic only: red, green, black, white etc.
Quote
Skyinou:
We need a word for "well done/bravo"

I definitely agree with 'eylan na'viyä. We should try to convey our ideas in concepts that might prove to be an inspiration to the karyu who inspired us. However, Some ideas probably don't need concepts to go along with them, like colors (pretty straightforward, right?)
Unless! Since we are talking about Pandora after all, and they to have bioluminescent flora and fauna(living things that produce light) Maybe that would change the concept of the colors?

Irayo!

Erimeyz

Quote from: Plltxeyu on February 28, 2010, 07:45:53 AM
Since we are talking about Pandora after all, and they to have bioluminescent flora and fauna(living things that produce light) Maybe that would change the concept of the colors?
It could, and I hope it does.  I wrote a post on that subject over here.

  - Eri

Plltxeyu

Excellent post!
I agree entirely, both on colors and the concept of directions that you mentioned.

On another note, how about the concept of food? There is a word for eat yom, but there is no word for food or an adj. to describe something that one finds delicious.

Hmmmmmm...

Lance R. Casey

Quote from: Plltxeyu on February 28, 2010, 05:13:44 PM
On another note, how about the concept of food? There is a word for eat yom, but there is no word for food or an adj. to describe something that one finds delicious.

A general word for "food" would be good, yes. We have wutso dinner, served meal and pxasul fresh, appealing (of food).

// Lance R. Casey

roger


'eylan na'viyä

Quote from: roger on February 28, 2010, 07:54:55 PM
I wonder if sa:yom could be used for "food".
if you cant make an ä, it might be better to make an "â"(a+^) instead than an "a:"