Just a couple more conversational expressions.
The usual response when you’re introduced to someone new is, of course, Oel ngati kameie, ma ____. But in addition you can say:
47. Nice to know you.
Smon nìprrte’.
To ask how to say something in Na’vi:
48. How do you say X in Na’vi?
X nìNa’vi (slu) pelì’u?
Note that slu ‘become’ is used here rather than lu. But it’s frequently omitted in conversation.
Finally, to let someone know there’s no rush, that it’s OK to go slowly and take time (not just in speech but in any activity):
49. Take your time; don’t rush. Slow is fine.
Ke zene win säpivi. ’Ivong nìk’ong.
In conversation, säpivi is usually pronounced spivi. (The main stress in the sentence, however, is on win.) The second sentence is proverbial—literally, “Let it unfold slowly.”
A word on initial glottal stops:
The comments were perceptive. It’s when something precedes the initial tìftang that you hear it clearly.
Take ’eylan ‘friend’ vs. the short plural eylan. If you say the words in isolation, I doubt there’s much of a distinction, if any. But put them in phrases like (1) oeyä ’eylan and (2) oeyä eylan and you hear the difference. In (1) there’s a sharp break between the words; in (2) the words flow together smoothly with no break.
Sivop nìzawnong, ma aysopyu. 😀
Irayo nìtxan, ma Pawl. Oer prrte’ lu nìtxan fwa tsun oe tsive’a fìtxan lesara aylì’ut sì aylì’fyavit.
Irayo for the interesting part about the Glottal Stop. I have found the initial glottal stop difficult to pronounce when the words are in isolation.
“48. How do you say X in Na’vi?
X nìNa’vi (slu) pelì’u?”
Lì‘upe… that clears things up a bit. For a while we just had ‘upe.
Nìmun, irayo seiyi ngengaru nìtxan, ma Pawl
Thank you, for the comments about the ‘tìftang.’
I can’t help but think that my comment prompted that…but, hey, we all learn from it. Any and all issue that I had was with the isolate stop; I just have a difficult time distinguishing it, especially when it’s dropped to fashion a plural stem. I CAN hear it, but it’s faint.
I am happy even with sopyu. New words = txantsan.
Ke zene win säpivi. ’Ivong nìk’ong.
I really like this expression, i can’t even articulate why. And i’d like to point out that this is an excellent case of using ke and not rä’ä.
The thing about säpivi > spivi is interesting. Is that generally true of the infix—will it generally lose the ä when that doesn’t violate the phonotactics of the language?
Quick question, does -ya (the vocative marker for collectives) work with frapo (I.E. “Kaltxì frapoya”)?
Frapo works with -ya, I think we have got that one long ago.
Irayo!! Thank you very much for this beautiful language!!
Eywa ngahu!!