Language of Avatar under study

Started by Payoang, July 28, 2011, 07:04:44 PM

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Toruk Makto

Congratulations!  We are honored to have been able to help and look forward to the second report.

Markì

Lì'fyari leNa'vi 'Rrtamì, vay set 'almong a fra'u zera'u ta ngrrpongu
Na'vi Dictionary: http://files.learnnavi.org/dicts/NaviDictionary.pdf

Seze Mune

What Markì said, Christine.  Thank you very much for keeping us up to date and letting us know how this is progressing.

Kamean

Congratulations! And thank you very much! :)
Tse'a ngal ke'ut a krr fra'uti kame.


Sìkat


Blue Elf

I was wondering when we get second part of results - so good to hear it is not lost :D
Oe lu skxawng skxakep. Slä oe nerume mi.
"Oe tasyätxaw ulte koren za'u oehu" (Limonádový Joe)


linganthprof

UPDATE - November 26th, 2012

Kaltxì ma everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I recently presented a paper at the American Anthropological Association's annual conference in San Francisco on my Na'vi research (I also had the pleasure of meeting Prrton in person when I was there).

My paper was entitled, "Speaking of Identity: The role of speaking and writing amongst speakers of Na'vi" and it focused on the importance of reading and writing as the entry point to the Na'vi speech community and the impact this could have on the language and second language learning in general.

If anyone would like to read the paper, I have posted a .pdf of it on my personal website under the last report from October 2011 at: http://www.christineschreyer.ca/Research.html

I was only given 15 minutes to present so the paper is rather short and is a bit repetitive of earlier information, but it does give you a preview of information from the second half of the survey, which I am slowly but surely working to compile into manageable chunks of information.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me. I am also now on Twitter where I sometimes post updates about my research and the courses that I am teaching. My handle there is @C_Schreyer.

Irayo!

Ta, Christine

wm.annis


Tsmuktengan

Thank you very much. I will read this when I come back from work.  :)


Ftiafpi

Indeed, thanks for the update. I can't wait for part II, this is fascinating stuff even to those who are a part of the Na'vi Language community.

Plumps

Also from me: Thanks for keeping us up to date :)

I read the document. It is indeed an interesting study to see the different varieties and approaches to learning the language. Plus we get a bit of publicity ;D

Can you tell us a bit of how the audience reacted to the talk? Were there questions?

linganthprof

Quote from: Plumps on November 29, 2012, 11:30:57 AM
Also from me: Thanks for keeping us up to date :)

I read the document. It is indeed an interesting study to see the different varieties and approaches to learning the language. Plus we get a bit of publicity ;D

Can you tell us a bit of how the audience reacted to the talk? Were there questions?


Good question! I was actually very happy with the response to the paper. Some individuals had come to the panel my paper was in just so they good hear the paper about the Na'vi community, while others who were there had never even heard of Na'vi and told me after how interesting it was to know that people are learning the language and how they are learning the language.

One individual who was quite enthusiastic was someone who is interested in the Coptic language and wondered if the techniques that Na'vi community members are using to learn Na'vi might be applied to those interested in Coptic as well.

The highlight for me was hearing from Dr. Harriett Ottenheimer, the author of the textbook I use in my Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology course and also a created language enthusiast. One of the assignments she suggest for her textbook, which I use in my class, is for students to create their own languages as they learn about linguistics and anthropology. I hope to be in touch with her soon to see if this research might make its way into a future edition of her textbook as well, which would be even more publicity. :)

Christine

Ftiafpi

#111
Quote from: linganthprof on November 30, 2012, 06:15:02 PM
The highlight for me was hearing from Dr. Harriett Ottenheimer, the author of the textbook I use in my Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology course and also a created language enthusiast. One of the assignments she suggest for her textbook, which I use in my class, is for students to create their own languages as they learn about linguistics and anthropology. I hope to be in touch with her soon to see if this research might make its way into a future edition of her textbook as well, which would be even more publicity. :)

The exercise of creating a simple language is definitely a good idea. Often times language "exercises" can be very dry but to help shape a language can really teach a lot. I hope this is one day adopted by many linguistic classes. I also hope that you are able to get your research into the next edition of the textbook. I think that a lot of students out there would befit greatly from activities such as learning a created language from a source they find interested (such as movies in the case of Avatar).

Quote from: linganthprof on November 30, 2012, 06:15:02 PM
One individual who was quite enthusiastic was someone who is interested in the Coptic language and wondered if the techniques that Na'vi community members are using to learn Na'vi might be applied to those interested in Coptic as well.

I don't see why not. The internet has allowed for the creation and/or expansion of all sorts of fora on a wide variety of topics. I think that it would be interesting to see a digital community develop based entirely around learning obscure/endangered/unique languages. A place where people could contribute as they saw fit to the study, teaching, and learning of these languages.

linganthprof

Kaltxì ma everyone,

Apologies again for replying to an old thread, but I had news on this topic that I very much wanted to share with you! My article "The digital fandom of Na'vi speakers" which is based on the original 2011 survey has just been published in the open-access journal "Transformative Works and Cultures" http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/610/512.  :) As it is open-access anyone around the world can access it and I'd love to know your thoughts.

Here is that the editors (Lucy Bennett and Paul Booth) of this volume on Performance and Performativity in Fandom said about my paper:
[2.5] In the Praxis section, Christine Schreyer studies learners and speakers of Na'vi, a language created for the 2009 film Avatar. This study is particularly valuable because of the scant amount of academic work that has been focused on fandom surrounding created or constructed languages, as well as the tendency for individuals who perform or speak these languages to be marginalized as extreme, obsessed, or both. Schreyer conducts a survey of Na'vi speakers and learners, finding that these diverse individuals have developed a strong sense of community through learning the language together online. In addition, the study uncovered the gift economy of the Na'vi community, with fans sharing skills, knowledge, and time to develop dictionaries, grammars, workbooks, and radio programs. Schreyer argues that is their knowledge and shared quest for learning this language that works to hold and maintain the group, even through Avatar may have brought them together. Created language communities can be viewed as alternative digital fandoms, and they offer new insight into the emerging and complicated digital world of fan cultures.

As some of you many know academic publishing can take a very long time since after you've written the paper, it needs to be peer-reviewed, and then often some minor revisions are necessary, and then finally the finally editing etc. occurs, which is why this paper is appearing now in 2015. I do have plans for a paper that addresses the responses in the later half of the survey (on how the Na'vi language was changing and will change in the future) and it is on my writing To-Do list. I'll update on that when I get a chance.

Thank you again to all of you who participated and helped translate the survey and the responses. Irayo!

Christine Schreyer
christine.schreyer.AT.ubc.ca
@C_Schreyer (on Twitter)


Toruk Makto

Christine,
 Welcome back and a huge thank you for sharing this!

A lot has happened since your survey. We have progressed from just being an online community to several successful meetups, with people coming from around the world. The reality of this community is stronger than ever and the chance to meet our online friends in person has been an awesome treat. We have another meetup this year in July (see http://avatarmeet.com).
For us here at LearnNavi, a major part of the meetup is having Paul Frommer there to conduct Na'vi language classes. The language has proven to be a persistent and scalable resource to not only those of us in the community, but to the filmmakers as well. LightStorm Entertainment has been unbelievably supportive of our community and that has deepened the existing bonds created by Avatar. With three more films in the works, I am looking forward to the best yet to come.  -M.

Lì'fyari leNa'vi 'Rrtamì, vay set 'almong a fra'u zera'u ta ngrrpongu
Na'vi Dictionary: http://files.learnnavi.org/dicts/NaviDictionary.pdf

Plumps

Thank you Christine for letting us know about the progress in your studies.
It was an interesting read and to see the diverse responses. Very respectful also to show that not everybody who studies the language is a hard-core fan of the movie; or that people who are intersted in it are fanatics, weirdos etc. as some of the media liked to portrait us.

All the best. :)

Ftiafpi

Definitely a big thank you for sharing this with us. No worries about dusting this thread off, that only really is a problem for old threads that are not relevant to the new topic/information.

I'm going to leave this brief so I can get right to reading it! :) Please let us know anything else you end up writing in the future about Na'vi or conlangs in general.

Tìtstewan

I can only second the comments of my  previous posters. :) Big thanks for this! :D

I believe, I totally missed that survey back 2011... Meh.

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Ftiafpi

Quote from: Tìtstewan on March 17, 2015, 12:24:07 AM
I believe, I totally missed that survey back 2011... Meh.

Zene fko eltu sivi ma 'eylan. :)

linganthprof

Related to the last post is this news-article from MacEwan University student newspaper. I gave a talk on my paper on Digital Na'vi Fandoms there on March 4th, 2015.   Fandom communities and anthropology http://thegriff.ca/2015/03/fandom-communities-anthropology/

Christine


Tirea Aean

Quote from: linganthprof on March 30, 2015, 10:48:27 PM
Related to the last post is this news-article from MacEwan University student newspaper. I gave a talk on my paper on Digital Na'vi Fandoms there on March 4th, 2015.   Fandom communities and anthropology http://thegriff.ca/2015/03/fandom-communities-anthropology/

Christine



Hey, awesome! Thanks for the update. It's interesting that there were people here who said that proficiency in the language was necessary in order to feel a connection to our community here.

So your work here eventually led you to create the Kryptonian language of Man of Steel. That's totally cool. [much-belated] Congrats!