Fmawn ta kelutral

News from Kelutral.org
  Kelutral.org
  • Home
  • Get Started
  • Resources
    • Na'vi as a Second Language
    • References
    • Documents
    • Dictionaries
  • Community
    • OmatiCon
    • Discord Server
    • Games >
      • Destiny 2
      • Street Fighter V Dojo
  • Fmawn ta Kelutral
  • Store
  • Other Languages
    • Deutsch 🇩🇪
    • Español 🇪🇸
    • Français 🇫🇷
    • Nederlands 🇳🇱
    • Português 🇵🇹

Numbers and Ouch

5/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Kaltxì ma frapo!  Following are snippets of an email from Karyu Pawl regarding some info on numbers and a new interjection for "ow" or "ouch":

​For now, a small thought about numbers:

I liked the hierarchy [the author] mentioned in a previous email:

A: Polpxaya swizawti ngal new?
With a few possible answers in order of formality:
B (formal): Tìng oeru mrra pumti
B: Tìng pumit amrr
B: pumit amrr
B (clipped/military): mrr

That's pretty much what I would come up with myself. (Of course, you could start with the pedantic "Tìng oeru swizawti amrr," where you don't pronominalize but simply repeat the noun. I'd need to think about the circumstances where that's appropriate. Maybe if someone asked you how many arrows you want, but it turns you you need some bows as well: "Tìng oeru swizawti amrr sì tskoti atsìng kop.")

Now pum is an all-purpose pronominalizer that can be used for inanimates, animates, and even people--any repeated noun. So this is perfectly possible:

A. Polpxaya taronyu kelku si tsatsraymì?
B. Pum amevol.

However, it's more elegant to use a more specialized term when possible, one that represents the class of the object(s) under discussion. In the case of taronyu, the class is simply tute. So an alternative form of the dialog is:

A. Polpxaya taronyu kelku si tsatsraymì?
B. Tute amevol.

Some other examples of class words used in place of pum:

A. Äo tsautral lu polpxaya loreyu?
B. Lu 'ewll apukap.

A. Polpxaya ikranti ngal tse'a?
B. Pxeioangit.

A. Lu polpxaya vozampasukut [a kind of tree] a rofa tsakilvan?
B. Lu utral avolaw.

I don't know how many such class words we'd be able to come up with, but it could be interesting to think about.
Pawl also replied to another question concerning an interjection for "ouch" or "ow", to which he gave the following suggestion:

I think a good candidate would be 'Ak. It's one syllable and sharp-sounding, especially with the unreleased k. I can hear myself coming out with that spontaneously if I stubbed my toe or banged my head.
Siva ko ulte 'ivong Na'vi!
0 Comments

A Note on 'efu's Transitivity

5/24/2020

0 Comments

 
Kaltxì ma frapo! We received an expansion on the usage of 'efu today that is worth sharing with the community. When asked about the transitivity of 'efu when used with abstract thoughts or feelings, Karyu Pawl provided the following explanation:

Well, that definitely made me think! [The author's] insightful analysis of ’efu made me realize there’s a use of that verb that we haven’t seen yet (or at least I don’t think we have—I could be wrong about that.)

As [the author] noted, ’efu can be vtr. or vin. As said, “transitive with nouns, intransitive-copular with adjectives.” (BTW, the object noun in the transitive case doesn’t have to be completely tangible and concrete. For example, Oel ’efu ngeyä tìyawnit, ‘I feel your love.’). But we haven’t yet had “I feel that . . .” sentences, as in “I feel that she wants to go.”

The candidates are:
Oel ’efu futa po new kivä. 
Perhaps. But I agree with [the author] that this doesn’t feel quite right. The object of ‘efu here is too abstract.

*Oe ’efu fwa po new kivä.
This doesn’t work, because intransitive ’efu is always complemented by an adjective expressing a feeling. “Fwa po new kivä” is not a feeling.

???Oe ’efu tsnì po new kivä.
This would be an innovation, since to my knowledge we’ve never seen an example like this.​

Lu oeru tì’efu a po new kivä.
In other words, “I feel that” = “I have the feeling that . . .”

I’ll think about this some more, but right now I’d go with #4 as the clearest and least problematic way of saying it.​
Siva ko ulte 'ivong Na'vi!
0 Comments

A New Slang Method

5/21/2020

0 Comments

 
Kaltxì ma frapo! We received an update from Karyu Pawl today regarding a slang methodology that we're excited to share with you. The initial question concerned whether or not the common phrase ke omum, I don't know, could be slanged as komum. Pawl's response was enthusiastic.

​I'd say that's entirely possible, and even likely. It's the kind of thing that happens in language all the time. (The stress would remain on the second syllable: ko.MUM)"
He went on to explain that there are many parallels in English, highlighting the etymology of the word "gonna" to explain how a similar process of elision happens naturally in fast speech.

Given the various stages of 'relaxation' it's likely to have gone through:

1. going to
2. going ta
3. goin' ta: ('Dropping g's' is a well-known dialectal phenomenon.)
4. goin' na: ( Part of a more general process, where -nt- under certain circumstances becomes simply n. No one in So. Cal. says 'Santa Monica.' It's always 'Sanna Monica.'
5. gonna: (The two adjacent vowels simplify to one.)
6. a: In some non-standard varieties, there's a 6th step: 'gonna' simplifies all the way down to 'a'! So you have things like 'I'm a whup you upside da head!'where 'a' is all that's left of 'going to.'
His response closed with an encouragement to the community to be creative and to allow slang words to develop naturally.

​I haven't done too much with Na'vi slang, but it'll be interesting to see what kinds of things develop naturally within the community!"
Siva ko, ulte 'ivong Na'vi!
0 Comments
    Picture
    A community blog for language updates and news from Karyu Pawl, maintained by the members of Kelutral.org

    Categories

    All
    Language Updates
    Monthly Updates
    Na'viteri Summaries
    Op Ed

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020

    RSS Feed

Kelutral.org

About
​Discord

Friends

Naviteri.org
Eana Mokri
Dict-Na’vi
​Fmawn ta 'Rrta
​
Lerngruppe
The Avatar Podcast

Resources

Na'vi as a Second Language
Dictionaries
References
Picture
©  Kelutral.org 2020
AVATAR​ is property of Disney and Lightstorm Entertainment
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
🇩🇪 🇪🇸 🇫🇷 🇳🇱 🇵🇹
  • Home
  • Get Started
  • Resources
    • Na'vi as a Second Language
    • References
    • Documents
    • Dictionaries
  • Community
    • OmatiCon
    • Discord Server
    • Games >
      • Destiny 2
      • Street Fighter V Dojo
  • Fmawn ta Kelutral
  • Store
  • Other Languages
    • Deutsch 🇩🇪
    • Español 🇪🇸
    • Français 🇫🇷
    • Nederlands 🇳🇱
    • Português 🇵🇹