New Vocabulary II Part 1

[Carborundum]

Are you certain? In vivar 'ivong Na'vi, I'm pretty sure Na'vi is not the subject of var. This looks similar.

I am — and I do not get to say this often about Na'vi grammar — 100% certain of my analysis here.  And Na'vi is the subject of var in that phrase.

Mmmkay. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing what actually is going on.

[Neyn'ite Te Tsahìk Txeptsyìp'ite]

ah, tam, Plumps.

[Kemaweyan]

And Na'vi is the subject of var in that phrase.

Mllte nìwotx. And I have no ideas why there is agentive Even if var is transitive (yeah, we know that's transitive), it's used in modal syntax. We have other transitive verbs new an kan which could be used as modal verbs and then we should not use agentive there... I am confused and waiting for Pawl's explanation...

[Plumps]

Okay, here's my epiphany this morning
Just a theory...

Could it have something to do with the verb-on-verb construct?

pol säfpìl verar wivan, "s/he keeps the thought (and then) hides it"
could then the same be as
pol smarit taron yom, "s/he hunts the prey (and then) eat it"

The canon sentence for this is za'u kaltxì si ko, "come and say hello"

Question is whether var is strong enough to retain the ‹iv› even though it's not technically a modal construct. But that's something for William or Lance to explain, or whoever wants to take a shot at it

[Lance R. Casey]

Var is defined as "persist in a state, continue to perform an action", so I don't see how we can get the transitive meaning "keep, hold onto" out of it. My guess on the Strange Sentence® is that var wivan is thought of as a unit for the purposes of grammar:

Base: Pol säfpìlit wan He hides (his) ideas
Modified: Pol säfpìlit [verar wivan] He keeps on hiding (his) ideas

Contrast with: Po new säfpìlit wivan He wants to hide (his) ideas

[Nyx]

Do you think that Frommer is reading this thread and watching everyone sweat over this?

[Kì'eyawn]

Do you think that Frommer is reading this thread and watching everyone sweat over this?

He's got his talk with Okrand today; so, if anything, i expect he's doing the sweating