’A’awa ’U Amip — A Few New Things

Kaltxì nìmun, ma frapo!

Before anything else, let me post the Na’vi text of Mako’s message, which you listened to last time. I think you’ll be able to understand it without the English translation:

Tengkrr fìsäspxinìl awngati srätx ulte helkumì awngeyä zene ’ivì’awn, lu krr asìltsan fte pamrel sivi. Lu pxaya ayu a fko tsun pamrel sivi. Kxawm nga nivew pamrel sivi ngeyä tireyteri. Kxawm nivew pamrel sivi wayur a plltxe fu rol. Ketsran new pamrel sivi, lu sute a new ivinan set. Tìng ngeyä aylì’ut sì aysäfpìlti foru.

And to wrap up this round of listening exercises, here’s a comment from Plumps on his story about an unusual friendship:

Some of you might have noticed an unusual phrase at the end of Ìstaw’s and Syuku’s story but you will probably have guessed its meaning from context.

slä hayalo alahe (ph., ha.YA.lo a.LA.he, lit.: another next time) – a set phrase in storytelling to mean ‘but this is for another time,’ which indicates that the story is so good that people want to hear more about it in multiple sittings.

The idea of set phrases in storytelling, especially in stories for children, seems to be common to a lot of languages. In English, of course, we have the iconic “once upon a time,” which is used in no other contexts. When I was studying Persian, I came across a very interesting one: “Yeki bud, yeki nabud.” Literally, this means “One was there, one wasn’t there,” or “There was one and there wasn’t one.” As some online commentators have noted, these words indicate that the story to come might be fact or fiction, true or not true, and they create a “warm, intimate feeling” in the listener. Can you think of any other such phrases in other languages?

Moving on to some new vocabulary:

tsawng (vin.) ‘shatter, break into pieces’

Note: There are several words for ‘break’ in Na’vi. Kxakx is to snap or break into two pieces, like a twig. Tsawng is to shatter or break into many pieces, like a piece of pottery. If something is broken in the sense of no longer functioning correctly, it’s fwel.

Ma sempu, oey yomyo tsolawng!
‘Daddy, my plate broke!’

Ma Entu, ngal lumpe ngey tsmukeyä yomyot tseykolawng?
‘Entu, why did you break your sister’s plate?’

pon (vtr.) ‘balance’

Fwa pon seyti sìn kinamtil lu lehrrap, ma ’itan. Tsun nekll zivup tsawng.
‘Balancing a cup on your knee is dangerous, son. It can fall to the ground and break.’

(Note: In the above example, zivup and tsawng are “sequential verbs.” As you recall, two verbs in sequence without a conjunction indicate that the second action occurs right after the first. In this case, tsivawng would be correct as well, since that verb is also in the scope of tsun; the cup can fall and can break.)

Nìsngä’i Tsyeyk lu pìsaw ulte ke tsun vulsìn päpivon.
‘At first Jake was clumsy and wasn’t able to balance on a branch.’

mei (adj., ME.i) ‘wet’

Kllte lu mei a krr, fwa fwi lu ftue.
‘When the ground is wet, it’s easy to slip.’

(I like the sound of fwa fwi lu ftue!)

Note: Unlike paynga’, which indicates that something is moist or damp, mei indicates complete wetness.

meitayo (n., me.i.TA.yo) ‘wetlands’

This word is derived from mei ‘wet’ and txayo ‘field, plain.’ In colloquial speech, it’s usually pronounced meytayo.

lipx (vin.) ‘drip’

Tompa zerup ulte pay lipx kxamlä fäpyo.
It’s raining and water is dripping through the roof.

fäpyo (n., FÄP.yo) ‘roof’

This word comes from fäpa ‘top’ + yo ‘surface.’ (Cf. kxemyo ‘wall, vertical surface’)

Another Na’vi proverb:

Payìl a lipx tskxeti ripx.
‘Dripping water pierces a stone.’

That is, persistent effort can accomplish unexpected and amazing things.

sälipx (n., sä.LIPX) ‘drop (of a liquid)’

We’ve already seen the word payìva, which specifically means ‘drop of water.” Sälipx is more general—a drop of any liquid, for example tree sap or blood.

kxutslu (n., KXU.tslu) ‘risk’

The evolution of this word occurred in several steps. Risk is the possibility (tìtsunslu) of harm (kxu), or a harm-possibility. This evolved in Na’vi as:

kxu + tìtsunslu = kxutìtsunslu > kxutsunslu > kxutslu

lekxutslu (adj., le.KXU.tslu) ‘risky’

Awnga zenke fìkem sivi. Lu lekxutslu nìhawng.
’We mustn’t do this. It’s too risky.’

Finally, a note on grammar:

Even at this late date, there’s a grammatical word we haven’t yet seen.

We’re all used to these familiar contractions that serve as conjunctions:

fwa (= fì’u a)
fula (= fì’ul a)
futa (= fi’ut a)
furia (=fì’uri a)

There’s another one to add to that list, although it’s used less frequently than the others.

How would you say, ‘This message confirms that he will come’?

Well, ‘confirm’ is kangay si, a si-verb. As we know, si-verbs take objects in the dative case, as in Srung si oeru! ‘Help me!’ But here, the object of kangay si is not a noun or pronoun but rather a clause (‘that he will come’). So we need a conjunction involving fì’u in the dative case, which would be fì’uru a or fì’ur a. Just as fì’u a contracts to fwa, fì’ur a contracts to fura.

So our sentence is:

Fì’upxare kangay si fura po zaya’u.
‘This message confirms that he will come.’

I have a bit more to say about this topic, . . . slä hayalo alahe. 😊

Edit 28 Aug.: zene ivì’awn –> zene ’ivì’awn  Irayo, ma Tekre!