Ejectives in The Way of Water

Stitch · December 29, 2022, 11:03:06 AM

Sup! While watching TWoW for the second time, I noticed that I haven't heard a single ejective in spoken Na'vi (in words that should have them, I think). Has the canon pronunciation changed over the years, or do they simply not make the actors pronounce them? I haven't seen any new pronunciation guides, so I'm not sure. Most of them were made around the time the first movie came out.

Vawmataw · December 29, 2022, 03:33:58 PM

I've watched the movie only once, but I know that the pronunciation by the actors is often suboptimal. Since the number of Na'vi language nerds (

) is quite low comparatively to the large number of people who will go see the movie, they didn't put more effort on the accuracy of the pronunciation. So, it's possible that several words are off, but the average viewer will not notice.

Rest assured that the Na'vi language is pronounced the same way as 13 years ago.

Stitch · December 29, 2022, 03:45:31 PM

Quote from: Vawmataw on December 29, 2022, 03:33:58 PMSince the number of Na'vi language nerds () is quite low comparatively to the large number of people who will go see the movie, they didn't put more effort on the accuracy of the pronunciation.

Makes sense and I get the reason, but I'm still a bit sad that a perfectionist like Cameron didn't require the actors to learn the pronunciation as close as possible to what the language is supposed to sound like!

Toliman · December 29, 2022, 03:51:17 PM

Yeah, it's just due actor's pronunciation.

Quote from: stitch123 on December 29, 2022, 03:45:31 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on December 29, 2022, 03:33:58 PMSince the number of Na'vi language nerds () is quite low comparatively to the large number of people who will go see the movie, they didn't put more effort on the accuracy of the pronunciation.
Makes sense and I get the reason, but I'm still a bit sad that a perfectionist like Cameron didn't require the actors to learn the pronunciation as close as possible to what the language is supposed to sound like!

Yeah, I was a bit surprised... I expected a bit better pronunciation of Na'vi by actors.

Vawmataw · December 29, 2022, 03:57:03 PM

There is even less Na'vi than in the first movie. It was probably not his focus, but yeah it's something that could have been better.

Blue Elf · January 17, 2023, 02:04:49 PM

Quote from: Stitch on December 29, 2022, 11:03:06 AMSup! While watching TWoW for the second time, I noticed that I haven't heard a single ejective in spoken Na'vi (in words that should have them, I think). Has the canon pronunciation changed over the years, or do they simply not make the actors pronounce them? I haven't seen any new pronunciation guides, so I'm not sure. Most of them were made around the time the first movie came out.

Explanation is on http://naviteri.org/2023/01/reef-navi-part-1-phonetics-and-phonology/ - they speak Reef or Wionä dialect. What I expected to be wrong is intent

Toliman · January 17, 2023, 02:08:07 PM

Yeah, also I originaly though that it was bad pronunciation... and how surprise, actually it's new dialect

Stitch · January 17, 2023, 06:25:34 PM

Quote from: Blue Elf on January 17, 2023, 02:04:49 PM
Quote from: Stitch on December 29, 2022, 11:03:06 AMSup! While watching TWoW for the second time, I noticed that I haven't heard a single ejective in spoken Na'vi (in words that should have them, I think). Has the canon pronunciation changed over the years, or do they simply not make the actors pronounce them? I haven't seen any new pronunciation guides, so I'm not sure. Most of them were made around the time the first movie came out.
Explanation is on http://naviteri.org/2023/01/reef-navi-part-1-phonetics-and-phonology/ - they speak Reef or Wionä dialect. What I expected to be wrong is intent

Yea, I'm glad that the whole thing makes much more sense now!