Prosody

Started by 'Oma Tirea, December 26, 2010, 01:11:49 AM

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'Oma Tirea

It's a wonder... it's been a year and no one has even bothered to think of this...

Answered questions or trivial matters:

Timing: Syllable/Mora timed, not entirely sure which, but most likely syllable-timed....
Stress: Pitch accent, but not extremely strong or tonal like in Japanese.
Speed (general): Somewhat rapid, but can also be slow.  Pronounciations may change a bit, but other factors are more important than this one.
Fya'o-o, zekwä-äo, 'evi-io, etc.: Are these really prolonged vowels, or are they split up with stress (e.g. [ˈfja.ˌʔo.o] in stead of [ˈfja.ʔoː] for fya'o-o, or [ˈzɛk.wæ.ˌæ.o] in stead of [ˈzɛk.wæː.o] for zekwä-äo), thus making it seem like prolonged vowels?  Are there any corpus audio examples of this?  Answer: These are moraically split up, thus no true prolonged vowels occur in Na'vi.

Unanswered questions:

Minor breaks (commas in writing, IPA: [|]): Where do they occur?  Likely after subordinator clauses like fwa, and maybe even after other conjunctions as well.
Other intonation: What does [↗] (rise across a phrase) mean in Na'vi? [↘] (fall across a phrase)? How about upsteps/downsteps?  So far the intonation has been much like in Western European languages...

The best examples we can figure of this so far are the spoken examples in the corups, and also in the movie.  Etrìpa syayvi mesìpawmhu.

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

Kì’onga Vul

I was wondering a little about this in response to wm.annis's Free Word Order sticky.  http://forum.learnnavi.org/syntax-grammar/navi-linguistics-free-word-order/

Specifically, I was thinking about what type of intonation was required for questions, whether a rising intonation is required like in English "yes/no" questions, or no intonation change, as in all Finnish questions.  Especially since Na'vi has srak(e), which automatically implies interrogation if used, I would guess that no special intonation is required for questions, but I'm not sure who decides that.  Has anyone noticed any trends in the corpus?


Anyway, I agree that prosody is a good topic to address, because unless specific guidelines are laid down, it will probably mimic the prosody of Na'vi learners' first languages.  (Of course, hence the trends toward that of Western European languages.)
學而時習之!
Did I make an error you just can't stand to let survive?  Please, correct me!  I'll give you candy or something.

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Sxkxawng alu 'Oma Tirea on December 26, 2010, 01:11:49 AM
It's a wonder... it's been a year and no one has even bothered to think of this...

Timing: Syllable/Mora timed, not entirely sure which...
Stress: Pitch accent, but not extremely strong or tonal like in Japanese.
Minor breaks (commas in writing)(IPA: [|]): Where do they occur?  Likely after subordinator clauses like fwa, and maybe even after other conjunctions as well.
Fya'o-o, zekwä-äo, 'evi-io, etc.: Are these really prolonged vowels, or are they split up with stress (e.g. [ˈfja.ˌʔo.o] in stead of [ˈfja.ʔoː] for fya'o-o, or [ˈzɛk.wæ.ˌæ.o] in stead of [ˈzɛk.wæː.o] for zekwä-äo), thus making it seem like prolonged vowels?  Are there any corpus audio examples of this?
Other intonation: What does [↗] (rise across a phrase) mean in Na'vi? [↘] (fall across a phrase)? How about upsteps/downsteps?  So far the intonation has been much like in Western European languages...
Speed (general): Somewhat rapid, but can also be slow.  Pronounciations may change a bit, but other factors are more important than this one.

The best examples we can figure of this so far are the spoken examples in the corups, and also in the movie.



as of yet, all of Frommer's examples seem to heavily mimic English in these areas.

'Oma Tirea

Here's something else to thing about: ftxey now has dual meanings.  Can stress distinguish them or are they pure homophones?

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Sxkxawng alu 'Oma Tirea on December 26, 2010, 11:37:14 PM
Here's something else to thing about: ftxey now has dual meanings.  Can stress distinguish them or are they pure homophones?



I would say homophones. and the only given as to which meaning is how the word is being used, the context.

Plumps

Quote from: Sxkxawng alu 'Oma Tirea on December 26, 2010, 01:11:49 AM
Fya'o-o, zekwä-äo, 'evi-io, etc.: Are these really prolonged vowels, or are they split up with stress (e.g. [ˈfja.ˌʔo.o] in stead of [ˈfja.ʔoː] for fya'o-o, or [ˈzɛk.wæ.ˌæ.o] in stead of [ˈzɛk.wæː.o] for zekwä-äo), thus making it seem like prolonged vowels?  Are there any corpus audio examples of this?

In the recordings of the Language Workshop, I think ... if you count that as audio corpus. There it was said that the sounds should be distinctly heard. So, no [ˈfja.ʔoː] but [ˈfja.ˌʔo.o] for fya'o-o, etc.

Breezer

Can anyone help me with the language I am totally stuck!!
On Earth you educate yourself, work, retire die. The Na'vi do more, they SEE YOU!!

Tirea Aean

Quote from: Breezer on January 03, 2011, 08:09:31 AM
Can anyone help me with the language I am totally stuck!!

not sure this is the thread to post this... check out the wiki.learnnavi.org and the posts in the main beginners board. also check out some projects designed to assist learning. feel free to mail me.

back on topic or let it die out?

'Oma Tirea

Quote from: Tirea Aean on January 03, 2011, 06:21:25 PM
back on topic or let it die out?

BTT rutxe.  There are still some queries unanswered here.

[img]http://swokaikran.skxawng.lu/sigbar/nwotd.php?p=2b[/img]

ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!