New Vocabulary: Clothing

Today’s vocabulary centers around clothing—items of apparel, some specific to Pandora and some more general, plus ways of talking about putting on, wearing, and taking off. As usual, thanks go to the vocabulary committee for some of these ideas and examples.

THINGS TO WEAR

Items of apparel are divided into two main groups: pxen ‘functional clothing’ and ioi ‘adornments.’ Although there are some gray areas where the categories overlap or are unclear, the distinction is usually apparent. It’s an important one, because the way you talk about putting on and wearing something depends on which group it belongs to.

pxen (n.) ‘(item of) functional clothing’

This category includes clothing items that serve the purpose of protecting, hiding, or directly assisting in some activity. Examples:

tewng (n.) ‘loincloth’

raspu’ (n., ra.SPU’) ‘leggings (used in war)’

hawnven (n., hawn.VEN) ‘shoe’ [From hawnu ‘protect’ + venu ‘foot’]

hawntsyokx (n., hawn.TSYOKX) ‘glove’

hawre’ (n., haw.RE’) ‘hat’ [Originally *hawnre’o, from hawnu ‘protect’ + re’o ‘head’]

Note: The hawn- words take the expected non-singular forms: mehawnven, pxehawnven, ayhawnven, etc., and that’s how they’re always written. However, in all but very careful or ceremonial conversation, they’re usually pronounced mawnven, pxawnven, ayawnven.

ioi (n., i.O.i) ‘(item of) adornment or ceremonial apparel’

Nìlun ayioi a’eoio ayeyktanä lu lor frato.
‘Of course the ceremonial wardrobes of the leaders are the most beautiful.’

(I love the sound of ayioi a’eoio ayeyktanä! It’s a nice phrase to practice. Note that ayioi is usually pronounced ay.O.i.)

nìlun (adv., nì.LUN) ‘of course, logically, following common sense’

Examples of ioi:

’ali’ä (n., ’a.LI.’ä) ‘collar/choker’

’are (n., ’A.re) ‘poncho, cape, shawl’

fkxile (n., FKXI.le) ‘bib necklace’

masat (n., MA.sat) ‘breastplate (armor)’

nikroi (n., nik.RO.i) ‘hair ornament’ [From nikre ‘hair’ + ioi ‘adornment’]

pxawpxun (n., PXAW.pxun) ‘armband’

Note this tongue-twister for practicing your p-ejectives:

Pori pxunpxaw lu pxawpxun.
‘Around his arm is an armband.’

(Note: Pxunpxaw is pronounced pxumpxaw in casual conversation.)

renten (n., REN.ten) ‘goggles (made from insect wings, carved wood (?) . . .)’

tsamopin (n., TSA.mo.pin) ‘warpaint’ [From tsam ‘war’ + ’opin ‘color’]

tsang (n.) ‘a piercing’

miktsang (n., MIK.tsang) ‘earring’

ontsang (n., ON.tsang) ‘nose ring’

PUTTING ON, WEARING, TAKING OFF

Putting on

To put on pxen, use the transitive verb yemstokx:

yemstokx (vtr., YEM.stokx — inf. 1,1) ‘put on (clothing), don’

This word originated as yem + sìn + tokx, ‘put on the body.’

Examples:

Fìrewon ngal lumpe kea hawre’it ke yolemstokx?
‘Why didn’t you put on a hat this morning?’

Penit yemstokx!
‘Get dressed!’

To put on ioi, use the si-verb ioi säpi ‘adorn oneself’ with fa ‘with, by means of.’ This is the reflexive form of the verb ioi si:

ioi si (vin.) ‘adorn’

Sevina tsa’everu ahì’i mesa’sem ioi soli fa miktsang.
‘The parents adorned that pretty little girl with earrings.’ OR
‘The parents put earrings on that pretty little girl.’

Fori mawkrra fa renten ioi säpoli holum.
‘After they put on their goggles, they left.’

(Note: In casual conversation, säpoli is often pronounced spoli.)

Wearing

There’s no separate verb ‘wear’ in Na’vi. To express that X is wearing Y, you simply say that X has put Y on. In other words, you focus not on the state that X is in but rather on the action that has created that state. Specifically:

Wears –> puts on
Is/are wearing –> has put on
Was wearing –> had put on

Examples:

Moat alu Tsahìk lu Omatikayaä le’awa hapxìtu a ioi säpi fa ’are.
‘Mo’at, the Tsahik, is the only member of the Omatikaya who wears a poncho.’

Sunu oer hawre’ a ngal yolemstokx.
‘I like the hat you’re wearing.’

Fkxilet a tsawfa poe ioi säpalmi ngolop Va’rul.
‘Va’ru is the one who created the necklace she was wearing.’

(Note: As with säpoli, in casual conversation säpalmi is often pronounced spalmi.)

Taking off

For both pxen and ioi, use the verb ’aku:

’aku (vtr., ’A.ku — inf. 1,2) ‘remove, take away, take off’

Rutxe mehawnvenit ’ivaku.
‘Please take off your shoes.’

’Aku is used more widely than just for clothing. For example:

 Pot ’aku fìtsengta!
‘Get him out of here!’

Ulte oeri fìtsengta ’äpaku nìteng. Hayalovay!

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61 Responses to New Vocabulary: Clothing

  1. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Wou nìtxan nìmun! 😀

    Nì’i’a awnga tsun livawk pxenti 🙂

    mawkrra is written in one word?

    Ah, and a confirmation of le’aw … txantsan. Faylì’uri ngaru seiyi irayo nìtxan nang!

    • Pawl says:

      Irayo ngaru, ma Plumps. Furia sunu ngar fì’upxare, oeru prrte’ lu.

      Yes, mawkrra is one word. Lance asked the same question–I’ve answered him below.

  2. Wou!

    Some questions:

    1. We have previously known sa’sem to refer to a set of parents rather than a single one. So, why mesa’sem?

    2. What is mawkrra? We have mawkrr as an adverb, and I would have expected either maw fwa fa renten ioi säpoli or maw krr a fa renten ioi säpoli here.

    3. The use of tsawfa adds to the confusion of how tsaw behaves. We know that it reduces to tsa- when affixed with case endings, but with enclitic adpositions we see both the reduced (e.g. tsane) and the full form. Is one preferred over the other, or is it a matter of personal style?

    • Pawl says:

      Kaltxì ma Lance! Aytele a ngeyä hapxìmì kifkeyä lu fyape? 🙂

      Sìpawm atxantsan nìfrakrr.

      1. Sa’sem is a bit tricky. Yes, it can be used for a set of parents, but it also means one parent. So we have sentences like, Nìkeftxo lu fì’evengur ‘awa sa’sem nì’aw, ‘Unfortunately this child has only one parent.’ If there’s no danger of misunderstanding and the meaning will be clear from the context, sa’sem is commonly used for ‘parents.’ But mesa’sem makes it clear that both parents are being referred to. To emphasize that even more strongly, we can add nìwotx, implying ‘both of the parents, not just one (perhaps contrary to expectation).’

      2. Mawkrr is an adverb meaning ‘afterwards,’ as in Nì’awve oeng yolom wutsot; mawkrr uvan si, ‘First we had dinner; afterwards we played (a game).’ Mawkrra, however, is a conjunction. It’s parallel to the conjunction takrra ‘since, from the time that,’ which I think you’ve seen before.

      That said, the alternatives you’ve suggested are acceptable. Spelling out maw krr a as three words, although not as common as the one-word conjunction, places special emphasis on the time factor, sort of like the difference between ‘after you were here’ and ‘after the time that you were here.’ At least that’s the way it seems to me right now. 😉

      3. There are actually three gradations: for example, tsa’ufa > tsawfa > tsafa, going from most formal to most colloquial. Which one to use is a question of context and, to a certain extent, speaker preference.

  3. Maweyatan says:

    TxANTsAN!

    I have been waiting for these words for a loooong time!

    :DDDDDD

    kìyevame ulte eywa ayngahu.

    ~Maweyatan

  4. Tirea Aean says:

    been hugetime waiting for these clothing words!

    some stuff that stood out to me:

    le’aw, the adj only.
    there remains no word for naked
    pronunciation in everyday speech gets lazy, creating inconsistencies between spelling and pronunciation, which now must be memorized.

    big thanks to LEP and Pawl!!! ;D

    • Tirea Aean says:

      it appears I got bigtime ninja’d yet again. I am with those ahead of me.

    • Pawl says:

      Hmm. A word for naked. I’ll think about that. 😉

      As for differences between spoken and written language, yup–welcome to the world of real language!

      • Tirea Aean says:

        I will have to grow to appreciate the growing recent inconsistencies between written and spoken word. though agree I with you that it’s that way more natural. However Since the “writing system” is literally a transcription of the spoken word, why can’t the spelling change to reflect the difference between the formal and informal terms? such as between ohe and oe? that is, be able to use win spivi, pxumpxaw, etc and also win säpivi, pxunpxaw, etc. Can’t we have both spellings in order to better clarify since it’s just a transcription of the spoken word? Just a question, I don’t mean to question your authority or anything. 😉 Thanks for the reply! 😀

        • Tirea Aean says:

          Actually, on second thought, it seems like you have thought about and decided this already, so please disregard my comment! Ngaytxoa

      • 'Eveng says:

        A word for naked could be “Lukeayfen” if i don’t wrong……
        “Luke-” = Without
        “Pxen” = Functional clothings
        the plural is “Ayfen” am i right?
        So could be this the word for naked dont you think?
        Eywa ngengahu ma Karyu! Oel ngengati kameie!

        • Tirea Aean says:

          the lenition of px is p. (the lenition of p is f). 😉

          aypenluke or luke aypen (attach to end OR separate out front)

          BUT. is pxen countable? if so, then this might suffice until an actual word is made?

          • 'Eveng says:

            Srane ma Tsmukan!! You’re right the lenition of “Px” is “P”! I was forgotten!! Irayo!

          • Pawl says:

            Ma ‘Eveng, ma Tirea Aean, irayo mengar.

            Pxen can be countable, in which case it means ‘an item of’ or ‘a piece of’ clothing. So Penit yemstokx means ‘Put on your items of clothing’ = ‘Get dressed.’

            Since the short plural is simply pen, we could have *lukepen > lukpen. Thanks for discovering that word! 🙂

            lukpen (adj., luk.PEN) ‘naked, without clothing’

      • Alyara Arati says:

        Since the short plural is simply pen, we could have *lukepen > lukpen. Thanks for discovering that word!

        lukpen (adj., luk.PEN) ‘naked, without clothing’

        I saw this, and in fact just used it in a poem of mine, but I was wondering if this was really the right word for “bare/naked heart”. Some of the true linguists on the forum are tossing around Markì’s idea of “luklew”… Thanks for all the thought that you’ve already given this subject! 🙂

  5. Kamean says:

    Ma Pawl!
    Lì’uri amip irayo seiyi. Slä lu oer ‘awa tìpawm.

    Srake raspu’ lu Neytiriyä “purple pants”? Po sar fìpum frakrr tswerayon hu Seze. Slä nga pamrel soli san “used in war”…

  6. Prrton says:

    Ma Pawl,

    Nì’awve seiyi irayo!!

    Txina tìpawm a oeta lu teri fwa tìfkeytokìlä, ftxey tsunslu fwa fneioi slu na fnepxen fuke? Natkenong:

    Fìtrr taw lu vawm nìfya’o a lew säpoli fa fìwopx. Fpìl oel futa sweylu txo ngal yivemstokx ’aret a wä sompa.

    Fìtikenongìri, ’are a wä sompa slu pum a fkol sar fte häpivawnu, kefyak? Tìkan ke lu fwa fko ioi säpi. Tsunslu fwa nìtrrtrr ke lu Na’viru fne’are a sar fol wä sompa. Slä txo tsafya nìlaw fpi satìkan a wa sompa sawtuteo lew säpi a tsat Na’viyä hapxìtul tilve’a sì zivene fmivi lawa fmawnit piveng aylaheru, pehemlì’uti pol sar? Ngari, sì’efuti rutxe kivar.

    Tì’eyngìri, kop seiyi irayo nìli.

  7. Sxkxawng says:

    Like many others I too am glad to have these words too.

    Kop, it seems no one noticed that Na’vi now has yet another homophone: pxen.

  8. Tswusayona Tsamsiyu says:

    useful stuff here. 🙂
    oe irayo ngaru seiyi.
    and it’s also really great to see that now Na’vi is becoming a language with pronunciation differences in colloquial speech and differences between spoken and written language. it’s evolving :).

  9. `Eylan Ayfalulukanä says:

    Irayo nìtxan, ma Karyu Pawl fpì aylì`u amip

    I really like the tongue-twisters, and will add them to my practice lines! (The colloquial speech differences takes getting used to, though. There’s too much Norm in me!)

    Seeing all these terms makes me wonder if there is a ( perhaps somewhat derogatory or demeaning) term coming for ‘alien clothes’?

    • Sxkxawng says:

      Maybe I should add those tongue-twisters to my list….

      Also a note on how I pronounce pxunpxaw, even in casual speech: I prefer to keep the n as is. A conparable example is the English word input. The n does not neccesarily assimilate to an m even though it has the potential to do so, and in fact for those who want a little extra challenge, try to say the tongue-twister above with an n in pxunpxaw and not an m.

      Also, keep in mind that the way I speak isn’t your typical, modern Na’vi 😉

      ~ LN Phonetician/’Oma Tirea/Sxkxawng

      • `eylan Ayfalulukanä says:

        Interesting observations, ma Oma Tirea!

        I pronounce input just as it is written, and it is a word I use a lot in dealing with electronic systems.

        And like you, I pronounce pxunpxaw with an n. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

      • Tirea Aean says:

        it’s easier to keep as it is in front of a p in that syllable is stressed. INput vs. imperFECtion. (probably messed up those syllable boundaries, but you get the point.) My theory is that n is more prone to assimilate when in an unstressed syllable. 😉

        • Pawl says:

          What about a word like “incorrigible,” where the in- is clearly unstressed? Do you say “in” or “ing”? I suspect there’s variation here too.

      • Pawl says:

        Sure, that’s fine. There’s bound to be individual variation here as there is in English.

  10. Ftiafpi says:

    Late to the party replying to this but I’ve been busy getting ready for a trip to visit oeya yawnetu (forgive the lack of proper characters, I’m writing this on a iPad in laguardia airport 🙂 )

    The pronunciation differences between common spoken forms and the written forms are most interesting and enjoyable. They make a lot of sense and really give the language the life that a living language should have. Obviously this will provide a bit of confusion and challenges to learners but I doubt that it will have any major impacts. Now, a question remains, should aynumeyu/haryu use the proper spelling always or is it recommended that we use the spelling of the form we would use in common speech?

    Either way this is exciting stuff!

    • Tirea Aean says:

      “…etc., and that’s how they’re always written…”
      “…Pxunpxaw is pronounced pxumpxaw in casual conversation.”

      it sure sounds like we must spell them properly all the time whether we pronounce them in a more relaxed way or not. that’s what I was gonna say earlier but it appears Frommer has made up his mind. (or so it seems to me)

    • Pawl says:

      Glad you find it exciting. 🙂 At the very least, I think it’s realistic.

      I would suggest that in writing, aynumeyu/haryu should stick to the “proper” spelling–just as the people who say “imput” in English still spell it “input.”

      • Tswusayona Tsamsiyu says:

        I think that differences in speech appear because it’s hard to say it as it should be.
        I mean.. if I say “input” or “pxunpxaw” the “n” sounds like “m” even if I pronounce it as written. the “n” isn’t pronounced like an “m” intentionaly, but just comes out this way.
        that’s why we should write these words “properly”.

      • SGM (Plumps) says:

        I think the whole discussion about the difference between spelling and pronunciation misses one important aspect.
        pxunpxaw is only a variant of pxaw pxun; it hasn’t taken on a meaning of its own like txampxì. Therefore it’s quite logical for me that ADPs that are suffixed don’t change the spelling of the words they are attached to.

  11. Blue Elf says:

    Finally we got words about cloting, great!
    This: Pot ’aku fìtsengta! sounds quite interesting, ta adpositions is about origin of something, but real meaning is about movement (although unwilling, I’m afraid :)). Wouldn’t be ftu more appropriate here?

    • Pawl says:

      Excellent observation. Ftu is indeed about movement, but it tends to be used with intransitive verbs like , za’u, rikx where the movement is volitional. For example, Ftu oe neto rikx! ‘Get away from me!’ With a transitive verb like ‘aku, ta is more common.

  12. 'Eveng says:

    Wow i love the tongue Twister! Pori pxunpxaw lu pxawpxun! Very beautiful! Irayo ma Karyu!

  13. Kxrekorikus says:

    Txantsana Sänumvi, Ma Karyu!

    Ngengeyä tìkangemìri oe seiyi irayo ngengaru!
    Fula ngenga verar tivok fìnumstengit sleyku oeti nitram nìtxan. 🙂

    Lu ngengaru.. ayngaru nìwotx tìpaw oeta 😀

    “Pandora will shit you out dead with zero warning”
    Eywa’evengìl yìsyom ngati ulte … lukelì’uo?

    • Pawl says:

      Ngeyä faylì’uri seiyi oe irayo, ma Kxrekorikus.

      Ulte tsalì’fyavi ngeyä alu “Eywa’evengìl yìsyom ngati . . . ” ke lu keyawr kaw’it, slä tì’efumì oeyä, kin awngal lì’fyavit a lu txur nì’ul nì’it. 😉

  14. HTML_Earth says:

    Would you call a headband hawre’?

  15. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Ma Karyu,

    if pxawpxun means ‘armband’ … then pxawzek(wä) could be ‘ring (as adornment)’, as something around the finger, couldn’t it?

  16. Tìsrusewä Karyu says:

    A million thanks for these clothing words.
    Does fkxile apply to all necklaces? I’m wondering if a bib necklace is a specific kind of necklace, or what is meant is either bib or necklace.
    Please work out a word for leg band, and also the materials used for clothing, such as beads, feathers, cloth, and leather.
    Irayo

  17. P. S. To previous comment: Also needs words for bracelet and anklet, and a word for fur.
    Irayo

  18. I’ve been using “eye protectors” anticipating something like “tíhawnu menari” and renten came out of left field. What is the basis for renten? I searched LearnNavi.org and didn’t find the discussion. Please point me to one, if it exists.
    Irayo.

    • SGM (Plumps) says:

      It wasn’t discussed as far as I know. It’s an original word from Karyu Pawl.

    • Tirea Aean says:

      Not every word has to come from existing words. In fact, the more new roots the better. though derivations are ok.

      What does “glasses” or “goggles” have to do with the words for “protect” and “eyes” in English? Same situation, right?

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