Na'viteri: "First Post" grammatical extraction

Started by wm.annis, June 26, 2010, 01:37:50 PM

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Plumps

Quote from: Kemaweyan on June 27, 2010, 11:38:03 AMNìawnomum, tsun fko sivar aylì'uhu a 'i'a fa san -ay, -ey, -aw-, -ew sìk, nì'aw san -ti sìk fu san -it sìk, kefyak? Pam lì'uä a san keyeyt sìk oeru mowan ke lu...

Ngahu oe mllte nìwotx!

roger

Quote from: kemeoauniaea on June 26, 2010, 04:42:00 PM
Topicalìri, 3rd sentence this seems to support my theory that -ri is a contraction of -teri (although that's pretty obvious so I'm sure I'm not alone), does this mean that we could potentially substitute -ri for -teri and vice versa in other cases?

Paul said some time ago he would consider whether -ri and teri should be cognate, and also whether there should be analogous adps. like accusative *teti and ergative *tel, but I haven't heard anything since.

omängum fra'uti

Well it's too late for tel, it already is a word...  But to be honest, I'm scratching my head what *teti or *tel would mean.  -ri does not fill a specific grammatical role in the same sense that -t and -l do, so it makes some sense in that context, but the other two, my mind boggles.
Ftxey lu nga tokx ftxey lu nga tirea? Lu oe tìkeftxo.
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kewnya txamew'itan

I don't know if case adpositions are common in other languages mì hifkey but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be, *teti would mean exactly the same as -ti just be sound different and so be used if the speaker thought it sounded better.

Internet Acronyms Nìna'vi

hamletä tìralpuseng lena'vi sngolä'eiyi. tìkangkem si awngahu ro
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wm.annis

#24
A follow-up email from Frommer on a few details:

QuoteAs for srekrr, don't worry--you were right. I was using it in somewhat the sense of "before." In my lexicon I had glossed srekrr (which I assume everyone realizes is an exceptional form: the expected word would of course be srehrr) as "before (time adv.), beforehand." And "beforehand," which my dictionary defines as "ahead of time, in advance," shades into "already." So the translation of the sentence in question would be more like: "I will chat about the rules of the Na'vi language for people who can use it ahead of time." That said, an adverb for "already" that's less ambiguous will probably be forthcoming.

And some spelling —

QuoteI'll also correct the error of the extraneous e in sänumvi, which I gather has led to some discussion. That was nothing complex and mysterious, just a Frommerian goof--a misremembered lexical item that I should have double-checked before posting.

I was amused to see even he's using the word "Frommerian" now, too. :)

Edit: an a follow-up to the follow-up he said, "nice explanation of the conditionals."  So we have some confidence on future conditionals, at least.  Contrafactuals, he says, are on the way.

Kemaweyan

Nìrangal frapo tsirvun pivlltxe nìNa'vi :D

Plumps

#26
Has anybody commented on the use of the possessive together with fì- or fay- yet? As in:

Kllkxayem tìkangkem oeyä rofa—ke io—pum feyä.

I'm just raising this issue because it is not always common to do that in other languages. I for one know that »diese meine Arbeit« sounds somewhat off in German (it would imply a slightly humorous emphasis) but I don't know how ›odd‹ »this my work« sounds to the English speaking world...
One would than have to get used to this possible construction in Na'vi.

Comments?

kewnya txamew'itan

#27
"This my work" sounds odd in English but "this work of mine" doesn't sound odd, you just wouldn't here it very often. It is interesting that na'vi does it.
Internet Acronyms Nìna'vi

hamletä tìralpuseng lena'vi sngolä'eiyi. tìkangkem si awngahu ro
http://bit.ly/53GnAB
The translation of Hamlet into Na'vi has started! Join with us at http://bit.ly/53GnAB

txo nga new oehu pivlltxe nìna'vi, nga oer 'eylan si mì fayspuk (http://bit.ly/bp9fwf)
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numena'viyä hapxì amezamkivohinve
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Kemaweyan

Fpìl oel futa tsun livu fkoru pxaya sìkangkemvi ulte faylì'ul a san tìkangkem oeyä sìk piveng frapor futa fko plltxe teri fìtìkangem takip sìkangkem fkeyä nìwotx.
Nìrangal frapo tsirvun pivlltxe nìNa'vi :D

wm.annis

Quote from: kemeoauniaea on July 01, 2010, 04:42:56 AM
"This my work" sounds out in English but "this work of mine" doesn't sound odd, you just wouldn't here it very often.

The phrasing "this * of mine" is pretty common in American English.

"This my work" once once acceptable in English, but is an archaic usage now.  See the King James version of the Bible, or Shakespeare ("I'll have thy head for this thy traitor's speech").  I'm sort of sad it's gone.  I like the rhythm of it.