20 Questions: How do Na'vi typically form/create new words, as Na'vi?

Started by Txur’Itan, March 12, 2010, 03:39:15 PM

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Txur’Itan

What would be good to know, is if the Na'vi has a preferred or dominant method for generating new words, and is that bound to tribal culture, or common to the entire people?  

Since this would be based on the Cannon of historical events, this would be elements of the way Na'vi and humans first communicated, and the Na'vi were taught to learn or exposed to words or concepts the Sky People would introduce to them directly or indirectly.

We have seen various methods:
Onomatopoeia: hangham (laughing), kxangangang (boom), 'ekong (rhythmic beat)
Imports: kunsìp (gunship), toktor (doctor)
Compounding: tsamsiyu (warrior), tsakrr (that time), tsaheylu (the neural bond)
Some words in the ASG dictionary which may have been respelled or redefined,

But the approach to naming is what we are seeking...  What is it?

Na'vi Exposure examples:  

  • If the item or action is seen and not heard
  • If the item or action is heard and not seen
  • If the item or action consequences are known and not the cause
  • If the item had a name the owners used
  • If the item was used often but the owners never said the name
  • The word was tought to the Na'vi
  • The Na'vi had a preexisting word for what they Saw the Sky people doing, and shared this word with the learners of the language
  • The Na'vi might have been prone to describing the actions empirically, so that the meaning would be clear, and that could become a word.

I may not be the best person to ask this question, so if anyone else has a better way of asking this, please post here.
私は太った男だ。