Na'vi Linguistics Practicum: Topicals (I)

[Stranger Come Knocking]

I believe everything in there is still correct.

Oh, goody. Apologies if this is the wrong thread, but I figured since my initial question got asked and branched off into something of this nature, I should bring it here.

English does not have a topical marker but the "topic" can be easily identified. Take this phrase for example:

"I bought a copy of Avatar. Seeing the movie again was really wonderful!"

In that sentence we can see that the topic is Avatar. We would denote this with the topical marker -ìri or -ri if this was in Na'vi. Why is it important to know the topic? Let us look at this phrase now:

"I bought a copy of Avatar. Seeing a movie again was really wonderful!"

Here we've changed "the" to "a" in the 2nd sentence. We have almost the exact same sentence but we are no longer referring to the topic of "Avatar" when we talk about seeing a movie. So, in those two sentences knowing what the topic is and whither we are referring to the topic or not is really important.

THIS!  THIS!  I UNDERSTAND THIS!  Could someone point me to one of the example sentences or make one up that reads like this?  As of right now, I don't need an explanation if the sentences are solid.

[Ftiafpi]

Don't worry if you don't understand topics, I've been working on Na'vi for 2 years and Japanese for a few months and still don't understand fully topical markers.

Once I'm done with work I'll see if I can work up some sentences for you.

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Question:

"I fear for my life."

My life <- topical
I fear <- subj. vtr./intr.?

rightrightright?

[Ftiafpi]

Question:

"I fear for my life."

My life <- topical
I fear <- subj. vtr./intr.?

rightrightright?

As far as I know, yes.

[Tirea Aean]

Question:

"I fear for my life."

My life <- topical
I fear <- subj. vtr./intr.?

rightrightright?

As far as I know, yes.

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Question:

"I fear for my life."

My life <- topical
I fear <- subj. vtr./intr.?

rightrightright?

As far as I know, yes.

*squee*

Fpi literal act (head for the mountains, have a gift for you)

-ri non-literal act (fear for my life, apologize for this moron)

Now...about this teri...

[Plumps]

Fpi literal act (head for the mountains, have a gift for you)

nìkeftxo … kehe

fpi is “for (the sake of / the benefit of)”

“for the mountains” is directional, I’d go with ne

“gift for you” … is an interesting question I’d circumvent it with oel ngaru tìng stxelit

[Kemaweyan]

Fpi literal act (head for the mountains, have a gift for you)

Fpi means "for the sake of", so your examples are incorrect. We have a canon example of "have ... for ...": lu oeru aylì'u frapor.

http://forum.learnnavi.org/language-updates/i-have-something-to-say/

Ma Plumps, lolu nga win oeto

['Oma Tirea]

This being a very old thread, is it safe to assume that this OP still represents current knowledge? I assume so, since I dont note anything from op that I recognize is a contradiction to extant grammar documentation.

I believe everything in there is still correct.  What we're missing is a "Topicals (II)."

Ngahu mllte.  It's pretty easy to mistake the topical for a couple of adpositions (fpi, teri).  Hopefully you'll address that issue in the next thread

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Fpi literal act (head for the mountains, have a gift for you)

nìkeftxo … kehe

fpi is “for (the sake of / the benefit of)”

“for the mountains” is directional, I’d go with ne

“gift for you” … is an interesting question I’d circumvent it with oel ngaru tìng stxelit

Hm...perhaps I should address some of my definitions and my thought processes.  I get it.  I do.  Just maybe not in the same way.

Or maybe I should stop talking and just watch. o_o

[Ftiafpi]

Fpi literal act (head for the mountains, have a gift for you)

nìkeftxo … kehe

fpi is “for (the sake of / the benefit of)”

“for the mountains” is directional, I’d go with ne

“gift for you” … is an interesting question I’d circumvent it with oel ngaru tìng stxelit

Hm...perhaps I should address some of my definitions and my thought processes.  I get it.  I do.  Just maybe not in the same way.

Or maybe I should stop talking and just watch. o_o

No, no, keep asking questions. Even if they may seem stupid they're always good questions and will help us all learn.