Kaltxì, ma eylan,
Hard to believe that half of 2022 is now history. Krr tswayon pesengne? (Which reminds me of a saying that used to be popular with linguistics students when I was doing my graduate work, illustrating that sentences that seem similar on the surface can have very different underlying structures: “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” 🙂 )
In any event, the second half of this year is sure to be an exciting period for everyone in Kifkey Uniltìrantokxä! I’ve been more than busy with a lot of Na’vi-related things and haven’t been as involved with the blog or responsive to your comments as I would like. But for now, let me at least offer one response and a few new vocabulary items.
There were a number of comments expressing concern about the term olo’eykte, presumably meaning ‘female clan leader.’ The question was whether the term is canon, and if so, whether olo’eyktan, which prior to this was considered gender-neutral, actually referred to a specifically male clan leader.
My correspondence regarding this term goes back over a year. In a nutshell, olo’eykte arose in a natural and understandable way. Since we have such triples as eveng ‘child,’ evengan ‘boy,’ evenge ‘girl’; tsmuk ‘sibling,’ tsmukan ‘brother,’ tsmuke ‘sister’; po ‘he/she,’ poan ‘he,’ poe ‘she,’ etc., olo’eykte arose based on that pattern. (To fit in with these triples, there should be a third, neutral term such as *olo’eyktu, but that doesn’t exist.) However, there is a second pattern, where words in –an are gender-neutral. The obvious example is ’eylan ‘friend.’
Since olo’eykte is attested in a lot of official documentation, it is canon and will appear in our dictionaries. The best way to think of it is somewhat like “actor” vs. “actress” in current English. If there is a good reason to distinguish between male and female thespians, then you can use “actor” for males and “actress” for females. (In the Academy Award presentations, otherwise known as the Oscars, there are separate categories for “Actor in a Leading Role” and “Actress in a Leading Role.”) But nowadays, many if not most females who act prefer to refer to themselves as actors, not actresses.
In somewhat the same fashion, olo’eyktan can definitely still be used in a gender-neutral way to refer to both males and females. However, if for any reason you want to distinguish between male and female clan leaders, you can use olo’eyktan for a male and olo’eykte for a female. Context should be able to differentiate between these two uses of olo’eyktan.
One more thing: Although gender-neutral terms are preferable when gender is not an issue, it’s sometimes useful in narratives to be able to distinguish gender. For example, suppose you’re relating a conversation between two Na’vi, one male and one female: “He said . . .” “She said . . .” “Then she said . . .” “Then he said . . .” You can use po for both people, of course, but it might be easier to track the conversation in terms of who said what if you distinguish between Poan poltxe and Poe poltxe.
Now for a handful of new words. Most of these are straightforward and don’t require example sentences.
’eng (n.) ‘beak of a bird or animal’
wion (n., WI.on) ‘reef’
Two words for body types, used for people and animals:
ompu (adj., OM.pu) ‘fat, corpulent’
litsi (adj., LI.tsi) ‘thin, lean, lithe’
These terms are objective and nonjudgmental. Also, don’t confuse litsi with flì. Flì is used for things, not people: frir aflì ‘thin layer,’ flìa vul ‘thin branch.’
tsukmong (adj., tsuk.MONG) ‘reliable, dependable’
This word derives from mong ‘depend on, rely on’ and can be used for both people and things: tute atsukmong ‘dependable person,’ aysìoeyktìng atsukmong ‘reliable explanations.’
And finally:
man (vin.) ‘belong’
This is ‘belong’ in the sense of fitting in; feeling comfortable as part of a group; being in a place, position, or relationship where one belongs. (Note that you can’t use man in a possessive sense, as in “This bow belongs to me.”) Man is often accompanied by a place expression or one with hu:
Man po fìpongumì nìlaw.
‘He clearly belongs in this group.’
Nga man oehu, ma paskalin.
‘You belong with me, honey.’
Krro krro fpìl oel futa ke man oe kawtseng.
‘Sometimes I think I don’t belong anywhere.’
Rolun oel olo’ti a ’efu fta oe man tsatsengmì.
‘I’ve found a community where I feel I belong.’
And that’s what I truly hope both newcomers and old timers will be able to say, and continue to say, about our united lì’fyaolo’ as the days, months, and years go by.
Hayalovay.
Kaltxì ma Pawl, aylì’uri amip irayo!
Two small questions:
How is olo’eykte stressed? Does the -e suffix on olo’eykte take the stress (o-lo-‘eyk-TE) or does the original stress of olo’eyktan remain (o-lo-‘EYK-te)? (Horen leNa’vi says that the effect of the gender suffixes -an and -e on the accent is unpredictable.)
Is there a word like “ompulitsi” or “litsompu” to mean “someone’s body weight”?
🤔 If it’s o-lo-’eyk-TE then that would point at the possibility that the masculine form could be o-lo-’eyk-TAN, in which case it would be distinguished from the gender-neutral o-lo-’EYK-tan by stress…
(at least for some speakers/registers of the language?)
I thought of this solution as well, which, naturally, I think is both satisfactory and simple. Does it require adding an á to the language, though? That could be problematical.
Hmm. Ompulitsi/litsompu are interesting possibilities. The only thing is, I don’t think we can say they would indicate a scale of body weight, since weight doesn’t necessarily correlate to the impression of thinness or fatness. Someone who’s 5′ 1″ and 160 pounds (155 cm, 73 kg) might appear fat, while someone the same weight but 6′ 3″ (191 cm) might appear thin. Let me think about this . . .
I wouldn’t insist on anything, but I’d still note that the proposed possibilities could likely relate rather to a shape than weight of body of animal/person. Or even, to a visual impression of shape of body.
Ma Wllìm, ma Zángtsuva, ma Alyara Alyati:
I like the proposal to stress olo’eykte on the final syllable: o-lo-‘eyk-TE. Done!
As for stressing the specifically masculine use of olo’eyktan on the final syllable as well, that makes sense too. Keep in mind that this use is going to be rare (just as olo’eykte itself is rare). It will probably only arise in conjunction with olo’eykte. For example, if there were such a thing as a convocation of clan leaders, and you wanted to say there were 5 of the male variety present and 6 of the female, you would say: olo’eykTAN amrr sì olo’eykTE apukap. In that kind of situation I think the context would let you know which olo’eyktan you were referring to, and so I don’t feel we need a special marker like á on the -tan.
I’m reminded of a situation in English that’s somewhat similar. For example, we have the word “selector,” meaning a person who selects something or someone. It’s normally stressed on the second syllable: se-LEC-tor. We also have “selectee,” a person who is selected. Like most -ee words, it’s stressed on the last syllable: se-lec-TEE. However, when we contrast the two words, as in “there were 5 selectors and 6 selectees,” it’s often the case that we shift the stress on “selectors” to the last syllable: “5 selecTORS and 6 selecTEES.” (At least for some people. 😊 ) I wonder if this happens in other languages as well.
Kxì ma Pawl ulte mipa aylì’uri irayo nìtxan!
I was actually waiting for words describing the body shape for a long time. Tiretxan and I started to translate the first book of warriors (and actually nearly finished the first 100 pages), and I remember that the first couple of pages where hell – it starts with a list and short description of all characters, so when I did that part I had to find some strange formulation to translate that while avoiding flì and nutx… So I’ll definitely revisit that project to change all of these descriptions (and finally continue with it)!
I think there is no need to say that I, as probably everyone who reads this blog, am excited to see what other new words we will have in the sequel – it’s truly an exciting year for Na’vi fans.
ta Tekre
I had to google “Book of Warriors.” Is it a series of fantasy novels about a clan of feral cats? Sorry for being clueless. 😄
I think you’re going to find A2 interesting in all respects, including linguistic ones. 😉
Txasunu oer melì’u alu ompu sì wion! 🙂
’ä’ … sweylu livu tstxo fìpìlokä Solalew mawl zìsìtä, kefyak?
’Ä’ !!! Irayo nìfrakrr!
Kea tìkin!
One more thing I noticed while working the new items into the dictionary: in the last example we have our first example of written short form futa, iirc you said at one point that ‘it’s not usually written that way’ … eltur tìtxen si! 🙂
Right. (If I haven’t already used this analogy:) I think of it rather like “going to” ~ “gonna” in English (well, at least in American English). In relaxed conversation, hardly anyone actually says “going to.” It’s almost always “gonna.” (“Are you going to go?” sounds stiff, unless you’re trying for unusual emphasis. It’s much more natural to say, “Are you gonna go?”) But “gonna” is not acceptable in writing, UNLESS your aim is to reproduce dialog that reflects how a person actually spoke. Futa ~ fta in Na’vi works in somewhat the same way. Although futa is preferred in writing. you can write fta if you’re trying to convey a person’s actual speech.
Wou, sunu oeru fwa fkeytok melì’u alu ompu sì litsi nìtxan! Mesa’u rì’ìr seiyi meralur, pxel “bouba/kiki effect”. 🙂
Furia sunu ngar tsamelì’u, ‘efu oe nitram. Ulte srane, tsa-“bouba/kiki effect” ke lolen nìsyayvi kaw’it. 😉
Yay, another animal part word! I also really like… well, all of the other new words, actually. Now we don’t have to describe weight with constructions like “ku’up nì’ul”, which was indeed awkward. Of course, I am also excited about Avatar’s re-release, and the upcoming film! I’m glad they’re keeping you busy; the more Na’vi in the sequels, the more immersive the movies will feel to me, I hope. ❤
Hope you’ll like what you discover in A2!
Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl ulte zìskrrsom lefpom! Aylì’uri amip irayo!
Krr tswayon pxel swizaw, mauti pxel utumauti. 😉
Hayalovay!
😄
Ma nawma Karyu,
Furia ngengal tsaylì’ut amip eykolomum, ‘efuyu ohe lefpom nìprrte’. 🙂 Nìvingkap, stolawm ohel nìsok futa fko ‘on salmi mì tanlokxe ngengeyä a tìfkeytokìri syon ke längu lor, ke längu sìltsan, slä sìlpey ohe tsalsungay tsnì ngengaru livu fpom nì’aw!
Eywa Ngengaru tìhawnu sivi nìlkeftang!