Kaltxì nìmun, ma frapo!
Another great North American meet-up of the lì’fyaolo’ and the wider Uniltìrantokxolo’ is now behind us. As you know, AvatarMeet 2014 was held in Los Angeles, and so it was a pleasure for my muntxatu alu John (alu Tawtutan aTstunwi) and me to be able to have old and new friends alike over to our house for an afternoon and evening of food, festivities, and fun.
Back at the hotel the next morning, I taught a Na’vi 103 class that picked up where last year’s class left off. Our very talented videographers Alan and Mikko taped the whole thing, and as soon as I let Alan know which misstatements I made that I’d rather not have preserved for posterity, he’ll be once again editing the raw footage into videos that will be posted online. Ngeyä tìkangkemìri atxantsan irayo nìli nìtxan, ma tsmuk!
And now for some new vocabulary. Irayo, as always, to the members of the LEP, whose suggestions are incorporated in some of these words.
First some concrete nouns:
ngoa (n., NGO.a) ‘mud’
Mawfwa zup tompa, lu ngoa atxan fìhapxìmì na’rìngä.
‘After rain, there’s a lot of mud in this part of the forest.’
mawfwa (conj., MAW.fwa) ‘after’
Note: mawfwa and mawkrra are synonymous: they’re both conjunctions meaning ‘after’ and can be used interchangeably.
neni (n., NE.ni) ‘sand’
Neni lew si fìtxayor vay txampay nìwotx.
‘Sand covers this expanse all the way to the ocean.’
fwep (n.) ‘dust (on a surface)’
fwopx (n.) ‘dust (in the air)’
Although English uses the same word for airborne dust and dust on the ground or on a surface, Na’vi makes a distinction. As you may have guessed, fwopx was originally derived from fwep + pìwopx ‘cloud.’
Slärìl ngaʼ fwepit atxan.
‘The cave is very dusty.’
Txewìl ʼolaku fwepit ftumfa kelku sneyä.
‘Txewì removed the dust from inside his house.’
Tsawke slolu vawm talun fwopx.
‘The sun became dark due to dust in the air.’
Next, a useful adverb:
nìyey (adv., nì.YEY) ‘directly, straight to the point; just’
You already know the word nìyeyfya, which indicates actual movement straight ahead or in a straight line. Nìyey, on the other hand, is metaphorical: it describes an action performed in a direct manner, without hesitation or distraction. So the Na’vi version of the famous Nike slogan is:
Kem si nìyey!
‘Just do it!’
You may be thinking, why not say Kem si nì’aw? That’s possible, but there’s a subtle difference in meaning between the two forms.
Ni’aw is ‘just’ in the sense of ‘only.’ It’s used, for example, in a situation where there’s a choice of A, B, or C, and you’re telling people to ignore A and B and only go with C. Pxirit fu swoat näk rä’ä; niväk payit nì’aw. ‘Don’t drink beer or spirits; just drink water.’ So Kem si nì’aw means something along the lines of, ‘If you have several options, one of which is acting, disregard the other options and just act.’
Nìyey is ‘just’ in the sense of ‘directly.’ So Kem si nìyey implies, ‘Don’t hesitate, don’t overthink it, don’t get distracted, just forge ahead and act.’
’al (vtr.) ‘waste’
Rä’ä ’ival syuvet!
‘Don’t waste food!’
Derivation:
tì’al (n., tì.’AL) ‘wastefulness’
Tì’al lu zoplo a tsari ke tsun txoa livu nìftue.
‘Wastlefulness is an offense that cannot easily be forgiven.’
le’al (adj., le.’AL) ‘wasteful (not for people)’
Fwa sar payit fìtxan lu le’al.
‘Using this much water is wasteful.’
nì’al (adv., nì.’AL) ‘wastefully’
srey (n.) ‘version’
Fìsrey pukä alu Horen Lì’fyayä leNa’vi lu swey nìlaw.
This version of the book A Reference Grammar of Na’vi is clearly the best.
lupra (n., LUP.ra) ‘style’
Plltxe frapo san fìfkxile lor lu nìngay sìk, slä oeri ke sunu oer lupra kaw’it.
‘Everybody says this necklace is really beautiful, but me, I don’t like the style one bit.’
(In the above example, note the double use of oeri/oer for emphasis and change of focus: Everybody is X, but as for me, I’m Y.)
The lup part of lupra shows up in compounds:
fyolup (adj., FYO.lup) ‘exquisite, sublime in style’
fe’lup (adj., FE’.lup) ‘tacky, in poor taste’
snolup (n., SNO.lup) ‘personal style or aesthetic, presence’
Por lu snolup a new frapo rì’ìr sivi.
‘He/She has a personal style that everyone wants to emulate.’
’ongop (vtr., ’O.ngop—infixes 2,2) ‘design’
Although on first glance it might look as if this verb is related to ’ong ‘unfold, blossom,’ it’s not. It actually comes from the noun ’on ‘shape, form’ + the verb ngop ‘create.’
Fìtskoti afyolup ’ongolop oeyä sempulìl.
‘This exquisite bow was designed by my father.’
Derivation:
’ongopyu (n., ’O.ngop.yu) ‘designer’
One more thing for now: Earlier this year I was invited to be part of the California Cognitive Science Conference at the University of California, Berkeley. This year’s theme was creativity. The talks are now online. Here’s mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzaZlRav2DY
This talk was a little different from the others I’ve given; you might find parts of the beginning and end interesting.
Hayalovay, ma smuk.
Kaltxì ma Pawl!
Tsatsawlultxari ‘ok layeiu oeru krrä tì’i’avay. Ngahu Tsyanhusì aylahehusì käteng a skxomìri ke tsun nìtam oe irayo sivi. Lu am’aluke swaw azey.
after* 😉
txantsana aylì’u nìfrakrr! Very useful and interesting stuff in here as always.
You know, what a coincidence.. Just earlier, before I saw this post, I was thinking about how to say “Just Do It”. I didn’t think of saying it that way, but did consider and reject nì’aw on the same grounds.
So I see also here that you used word order to translate into the passive:
So it’s decided that this sentence structure alone (object first, subject specified and last) is enough cause to translate into English as passive?
I also loved your Talk on creating Na’vi as well. It’s always a pleasure to hear you speak.
>>>Tsatsawlultxari ‘ok layeiu oeru krrä tì’i’avay. Ngahu Tsyanhusì aylahehusì käteng a skxomìri ke tsun nìtam oe irayo sivi. Lu am’aluke swaw azey.
Fwa tsolun nga ziva’u moeyä kelkune fte tsivun pxoe ’awsiteng kiväteng nìmun oeru teya soleiyi nìngay.
>>>mawfwa (conj., MAW.fwa) ‘before’
>>>after* 😉
’Ä’! Irayo! Zeykoleio.
>>>So I see also here that you used word order to translate into the passive:
>>>Fìtskoti afyolup ’ongolop oeyä sempulìl.
>>>‘This exquisite bow was designed by my father.’
>>>So it’s decided that this sentence structure alone (object first, subject specified and last) is enough cause to translate into English as passive?
Well, the given sentence in Na’vi could be translated as either active or passive. With the object first, the most natural English equivalent is a passive structure, because object-initial sentences are rare in English. We sometimes say things like “Spaghetti I can cook really well,” or “Her I love; him I can’t stand,” but usually if we want to begin with the underlying object in English, we convert to a passive structure. Na’vi of course doesn’t have a passive, but sentences like the one in the example can often fulfill the same function in discourse as the passive does in English and other languages.
>>>I also loved your Talk on creating Na’vi as well. It’s always a pleasure to hear you speak.
🙂
Very useful and wonderful words, nìfrakrr, ma Karyu. 🙂
Can’t wait for the videos of the lessons. Will you provide the handout as well?
How do ’ongop and rengop differ from each other? The latter was introduced here: http://naviteri.org/2013/01/awvea-posti-zisita-amip-first-post-of-the-new-year/
Irayo for pointing that out, ma Plumps. Yes, there are two Na’vi words, both of which translate as ‘design,’ but they’re different, as I’ll explain.
Fmawn atxantsan! 😉
Faylì’uri alor ayoe ngaru seiyi irayo nìtxan!
———-
Ma Plumps,
If I think about from what these words are derived, my brain thinks this:
rengop is derived from renu ‘pattern’ + ngop ‘create’.
This would something like a “pattern-create”, rengopyu would be a “pattern-creator”.
’ongop would be more a “shape/form-create”, ’ongopyu would be a “shape/form-creator”.
Probably, I’m wrong, but it seems logical. Ma Karyu, kxawm nga tsun srung sivi ayoer. 😉
Irayo, ma Tìtstewan. Furia sunu ngar faylì’u lu oe nitram.
And yes, you’re on the right track with the difference between rengop and ’ongop. More below.
Maybe ‘ongop is more general sense, design the big picture or design the main outline or form or shape of something. And maybe rengop is more fine tuned and specific, designing the patterns on something?
Tsafya volingkap oet fìtìketengìl. Tsunslu fwa ’uru a’aw livu ’ongopyu rengopyusì kop, kefyak? Natkenong, ’onur tskoä lu ran tseya slä kop tsun tseyä yor livu zeya renu letsim. Tìomummì oeyä, Uniltìrantokä ayikranìri tsafya ngolop nìteng. 🙂
Srane, ma tsmuk. Ngaru tìyawr. Sunu oer faysìkenong ngeyä.
Ma Tirea Aean, ngaru tìyawr nìwotx! ’Ongop is for the larger, “macro” aspects of design–the shape of a bow, the structure of a bridge. Rengop is for finer details, as the intricate design of an ornament. And when we use Na’vi mì ’Rrta, if you were designing a computer program I’d say it would be rengop as well, since it’s the detail and the pattern that’s important.
Ma Pawl,
Faylì’u amip leiu lesar nìtxan ulte mì Frrkìli a tìlusawk a teri vefya a tsawfa lì’fyati leNa’vi ngolop ngal soluneiu oer nìteng. Seiyi irayo!
🙂 Irayo, ma Prrton.
Fìfmawn sì faylì’u lu txantsan, irayo seiyi oe ngaru nìftxavang ma Karyu.
Fpìl oel futa fìtsawlultxa ke lolu le’al kaw’it 😉
/rengop vs. ’ongop/
I guess that rengop is more generic or “technical” term, while ’ongop is about fashion and style.
Ngeyä faylì’uri alor irayo nìtxan, ma Tanri.
sìltsana sänumviri, irayo nìtxan. 🙂