Kxì (see below) nìmun, ma eylan. I’ve been gone from the blog a long time, and many questions you’ve asked me still remain unanswered—oeru txoa livu mìftxele. But rest assured I haven’t been wasting my time. Kifkeymì Uniltìrantokxä tìkangkem si oe kawl slä nì’o’ nì’aw. 🙂
I’m currently working on a big post with a lot of new vocabulary, which I hope to complete shortly. Tsakrrvay, let me respond to a question that was posed by the LEP last year: how to ask and answer negative questions in Na’vi. The LEPers provided some very interesting examples from German, where “doch” and “nein” are used in the answers to such questions, and asked if there’s anything parallel in Na’vi. This discussion won’t cover every possibility, but it will at least make a start.
Negative questions are a lot more complicated than they might seem—at least that’s what I’m discovering! At first, it appears that a negative question simply turns a negative statement into a question: You aren’t hungry. –> Aren’t you hungry? I didn’t see you yesterday. –> Didn’t I see you yesterday? He has no shame. –> Has he no shame?
But what do those negative questions actually mean? What is the speaker trying to find out—and trying to get across? In other words, even if the syntax is straightforward, what are the semantics of these questions?
Take a simple positive question like “Are you John?” What’s being asked? Well, the speaker is considering the statement “You are John” and asking for confirmation: Is that statement true? In other words, “You are John—true or false?” If it’s true, the other person answers “Yes,” which means “The statement you’re asking about is correct.” A fuller answer would be, “Yes, I’m John.” If the statement is not correct—if the person is in fact David, not John—the answer is “No,” which means “The statement you’re asking about is not correct.” So far so good.
What happens, however, if the statement being turned into a question is negative? For example, “You are not John,” which becomes the negative question “Aren’t you John?” If we follow the analysis in the previous paragraph, the speaker is considering the statement “You are not John” and asking for confirmation: “You are not John—true or false?” A response of “Yes” should then mean, “The statement you’re asking about is correct—I am not John.” And “No” should mean, “The statement you’re asking about is incorrect—I am indeed John.”
But that is not what people usually mean when they ask such questions. When a speaker asks someone, “Aren’t you John?” there’s a pre-existing belief on her part that this person is in fact John, and she’s asking for confirmation of that belief. “I believe you’re John. That’s correct, isn’t it?” An alternative form of the question gets this across more clearly: “You’re John, aren’t you?” In this case, an answer of “Yes” means, “Your pre-existing belief is correct. I am John.” And “No” means “Your pre-existing belief is incorrect. I am not John.” Confused yet?
I’m happy to report that with srak(e) questions Na’vi, such pre-existing beliefs don’t enter the picture, and the situation is more straightforward. That is, a question of the form Srake [X] or [X] srak , where X is some statement, simply asks whether or not X is true. It doesn’t matter whether X is a positive or a negative statement. An answer of “Srane” means that X is true. Kehe means X is not true. The questions do not imply any pre-existing beliefs on the part of the questioner. For example:
- Nga lu Txewì srak? means: “Please tell me if the statement ‘You are Txewi’ is true or false.” An answer of “Srane” means, “Yes, it’s true.” “Kehe” means “No, it’s not true.”
- Nga ke lu Txewì srak? means: “Please tell me if the statement ‘You are not Txewi’ is true or false.” Just as above, an answer of “Srane” means, “Yes, it’s true. I am not Txewì.” “Kehe” means “No, it’s not true. I am indeed Txewì.”
How, then, would you convey the idea of the English question “Aren’t you Txewì?” with its pre-existing belief? In Na’vi it would simply be, “Nga lu Txewì, kefyak?” That’s exactly parallel to the English “You’re Txewì, aren’t you?” which is to say, “You’re Txewì–isn’t that true?” And as in English, an answer of “Srane” means “Your pre-existing belief is correct—I am Txewì,” while “Kehe” means “Your pre-existing belief is incorrect—I’m not Txewì.”
There’s more to be said about this subject, but I think that’s quite enough for now. 🙂
Oh, by the way:
kxì (intj.) ‘hi, hiya”
This was a nice suggestion from the LEP members for a more casual greeting than kaltxì, to be used among friends.
Kxì, ma ’eylan! Kempe leren?
‘Hey dude! What’s happenin’?’
Hayalovay!
Kaltxì ma Karyu! Ngeyä trrir Eywa lrrtok siyevi
Firstly, irayo seiyi nìtxan for bringing up “kempe leren?”as the Learn Na’vi Discord server has been recently afflicted with many newcomers falling to the “kaltxì ngaru lu fpom srak” plague. Until we can find the cause of this strange disease, would you aid us in vaccinations by providing a few other ways to effectively ask “How are you doing?” or “What’s new?” Many sngä’iyu do want to inquire about the well being and interests of others, but it’s getting a bit repetitive.
Kameie ngat nìprrte’, ta TunaYayo
Ma TunaYayo, let me see what I can offer in the way of vaccination against this plague. 😉 The following are all very colloquial and informal:
1. Pefmawn? ‘What’s the report?’ ‘What’s the news?’ ‘What’s new?’
2. Tìfkeytok fyape (OR: pefya)? ‘What’s the existing situation?’ ‘How are things?’
3. Ngafkeyk fyape (OR: pefya)? ‘What’s your status?’ ‘How ya doin’?’
So that’s four alternatives to the dreaded Ngaru lu fpom srak. 🙂
Kaltxì ma Pawl!
I just came back here to ask a question I had about these 3 alternatives to “ngaru lu fpom srak” you give here. What are some typical answers to these questions? Is lu oeru fpom also still an appropriate response to these as well?
Kaltxì seiyi oe ngar, ma nawma Karyu, ulte postìri irayo seiyi.
I wanted to ask something in context of “kefyak”… I’ve been starting to think of it (for whatever reason) as sort of an equivalent of the English phrase “I know right?! (ikr)”, is it ok to use it in that context?
Tì’eyngìri ngeyä irayo nìli.
(Ulte mipa aylì’uri li srefereiey nìprrte’ nìtxan! :D)
🙂
Kefyak is pretty much equivalent to n’est-ce pas in French, which I think of as “isn’t that so?” It also covers the territory of “tags” in English tag questions–Isn’t he? Aren’t you? Didn’t they? And so on and so on. Can it also be used the way “I know right?!” is used in current English? It’s hard for me to judge, since I have to confess I’m not a native speaker of the English dialects in which that phrase occurs. (I’m afraid it’s a question of age. 🙂 ) If ikr comes at the end of a sentence, then I think kefyak could cover its meaning (if I understand it correctly). However, if it’s a separate utterance, then I don’t think kefyak works, in the same way that AFAIK, n’est-ce pas isn’t a stand-alone utterance but only comes at the end of a sentence. Hope that helps, if only a little bit.
Yeah, I think it indeed is a matter of age, hrh. Thank you so much for your answer, it did help 🙂
Hìtxoa ma Toktor Pawl srake nga srung sivi oeru? I tend to sometimes reply with “Oe omum keyfyak?” “I know right?” would Oe omun kefyak? work or kehe? also srane I too felt victim to the “ngaru lu phom srak?” curse myself
*Tìkangayri irayo seiyi ngaru nìtxan!
It isn’t until you go deeper into the nuts and bolts that you realise how certain constructs work. I haven’t even thought about negative questions and what they express exactly. Very insightful.
Kifkeymì Uniltìrantokxä tìkangkem oe kawl slä nì’o’ nì’aw. :-/ I’m not quite sure I understand this sentence. Is there a si missing? I thought ‘work on/at s.t.’ is X-ìri tìkangkem si?
Yup, there certainly was a “si” missing. Didn’t notice it until you pointed it out. But it was intended. Irayo!
You’ll have to become Karyu Pawl’s assistant. 😛
Karyu Pawl, what would be the closest thing to call a domestic cat? Irayo.
Fìpostìri faylì’urisì irayo seiyi ma Karyu.
One potentially odd clarification around ‘kxì’, would/can it be used as an opening greeting in a series or would it be expected to be used more in response to a greeting?
Ie.
Txewì: “Kaltxì ma eylan!”
Ranu: “Kxì ma Txewì, fyape ngafkeyk?”
In my brain (headcanons, we like to call them on the Discord) it seems to fit this kind of a model but we’ve only seen one usage so far!
Irayo nìli!
I don’t see why it can’t be used both ways. Comparing it to English, we can have exchanges like (1) A: Hello. B: Hi. and also like (2) A: Hi. B: Hi.
Ignore my last question please. It got answered elsewhere. Anyways, ma Karyu, can we expect to hear even more of the language dictation in the new film?
Well, what I can say is that I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by the new film(s). 🙂
IRAYO MA EYWA HE ANSWERED
Irayo si ngaru ma Karyu!
Sìlpey tsnì ngaru livu sìltsana syayvi fpi ngeyä tìkangkem mìhifkey Uniltìrantokxä. Oeru lu txana tìso’ha fpi mipa aylì’u si kifkey Uniltìrantokxä. 🙂
I suspect kxi, along with the other new phrases is going to revolutinize a lot of conversations here, even for old codgers, set in their ways, like me 😉 There are a number of active new people in the community, a couple of who have asked questions in response to this post.
I’m happy that the negative question thing sorted itself out so well and so easily 🙂
Sìlpey oe tsnì tìkangkem ngeyä fpi Uniltìrantokx a sunu ngaru nang
Kaltxí, ma karyu ayawne!
I am a new commenter to this site, but a longtime reader & user of the dictionary, not to metion a linguist myself with my own translation occupation.
I have some ideas for new words I’ve been sitting on:
You’ve mentioned what the moon of Pandora is called by its natives, yes. But what is the word, ‘moon’, itself?
Also, words such as paper? And, to add to the weapony words, perhaps the word for sword? 😀 And, wht of the bolas weapon used by the tiranyu wwho tripped up Jake?
A short break before getting back to linguistic work :
Cosmological reminder : Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon following the vernal equinox
[1]
My brother’s birthday is on 25 March. He was born on Easter Sunday. How old will he be?
[2] Easier
My granddaughter will soon be 20. She also was born on Easter Sunday. When is her birthday ?
Interesting post ma Karyu Pawl I just discovered that about Kaltxì and Kxì are different but didn’t know Kxì ment “hey” that’s interesting 🙂
Kaltxì ma Melìsa si ma Karyu Pawl!
I have a question! How can i say to “Lu fpom srak?” on plural?
I use often “Ngaru lu fpom srak?” and i’m still learning and want to use another way to say “How are you?” in Na’vi! Even If i’m learning Na’vi since 2015…i stoped a while until i joined her and i started to learn more Na’vi language! I’m talking almost every day with Toliman on Tìpängkxo Kìng, talking about Telescope – Sä’o fte sanhìt tsive’a (in Na’vi) and about Jupiter (Tsyupìter)! HRH!
I’m learning Na’vi language really fast and i like it!
Ma Melìsa i noticed that you are advancing really fast on learning Na’vi language!