Kaltxì

[tompa utral]

Should the txì be pronounced as one or two sounds? (t'ì or t' (pause) ì)

Irayo in advance

[Payoang]

http://ia341340.us.archive.org/1/items/NaviWordsnoEnglish/Kaltx.mp3

[tompa utral]

Irayo .. although is it just me or does it sound like the guy who says Kaltxì pronounces the ì as an ɛ?

[Nighty]

Irayo .. although is it just me or does it sound like the guy who says Kaltxì pronounces the ì as an ɛ?

Remember that ì sounds like the i in "sin".

[kewnya txamew'itan]

The ì sounds fine to me.

We're not sure whether there should be a break or not. In some languages with ejectives there is and in some there isn't, personally, as Na'vi is quite a musical language I say it without a break as I feel it breaks the rhythm.

As always though, we really can't say until we hear from Frommer.

[Doolio]

i second that, i think that it is better the more fluently you are able to pronounce ejectives and incorporate them into spoken words with as little interruption as possible. also, neytiri, mo'at and tsu'tey, as one of the best na'vi pronouncers in the movie do it quite fluently.

[kewnya txamew'itan]

Just posting the same link as I did in the ejectives thread, it seems that we were right, the ejective should flow.

[donjoe]

Remember that ì sounds like the i in "sin".

That might depend on how you happen to pronounce (or distort) your "sins".

However, every table I've seen that lists IPA codes for that letter indicates it should be a short "i" (which doesn't resemble "ɛ" at all), whereas what is heard in the above mp3 is more akin to "kaltxe" than "kaltxì".

Unfortunately, matters are complicated by the fact that Frommer pronounced it pretty much the same way, which leaves me confused.

[donjoe]

OK, confusion over. The IPA "ɪ" is not a "short i" as I thought, but it's a vowel halfway between "i" and "e". So it should indeed sound the way Frommer was pronouncing it.