Difference between revisions of "Canon/2010/October-December"

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(As X as Y and continuative)
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=== Continuative ===
 
=== Continuative ===
:I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've decided to go with a new verb, var. As a main verb it means 'to persist in a state, to continue to perform an action.' As such, it can take the place of mi with a repeated verb. For example, instead of this:
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:I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've decided to go with a new verb, '''var'''. As a main verb it means 'to persist in a state, to continue to perform an action.' As such, it can take the place of mi with a repeated verb. For example, instead of this:
  
 
:: '''Pol trram yerikit tarmaron.''' 'He was hunting hexapede yesterday.'
 
:: '''Pol trram yerikit tarmaron.''' 'He was hunting hexapede yesterday.'

Revision as of 20:18, 1 December 2010

The Na'vi language canon is the complete collection of information about the Na'vi language provided by authoritative sources, namely Paul Frommer and the creators of Avatar (James Cameron and Twentieth Century Fox).

The canon comprises two things:

  • words and phrases spoken or written in Na'vi
  • descriptions of the linguistic elements of Na'vi such as orthography, morphology, syntax, and grammar

The Na'vi words and phrases from canonical sources are presented or linked to on the Corpus page (where copyright allows). Documentation, explanation, and analysis of Na'vi linguistics are presented on other Learn Na'vi wiki pages (Phonology, Morphology, Grammar, etc.). This page serves to document the canonical sources themselves. The majority of the examples on this page come from email correspondances with Frommer.



This page includes information dated October 2010 - December 2010. To access past information please see:


As X as Y; Keep on keepin' on

Quoted by Wm Annis, Dec 1 2010, ([1]).

As ADJ/ADV as N/PRN

This uses the new word nìftxan with na (the example means "I am as good as you"):

Oe lu nìftxan sìltsan na nga.
I’d also like to allow an optional –ri form in place of na:
Ngari lu oe nìftxan sìltsan.
That wouldn’t work all the time. For example:
?Utralìri lu fìpo nìftxan tsawl.
That places too much emphasis on utral, which is only the standard of comparison and presumably hasn’t yet figured into the conversation. In this case na utral would be preferable.

This construction can also be used with adverbs.

Continuative

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've decided to go with a new verb, var. As a main verb it means 'to persist in a state, to continue to perform an action.' As such, it can take the place of mi with a repeated verb. For example, instead of this:
Pol trram yerikit tarmaron. 'He was hunting hexapede yesterday.'
Fìtrr mi teraron. 'He's still hunting (hexapede) today.'
you could simply say:
Pol trram yerikit tarmaron. 'He was hunting hexapede yesterday.'
Fìtrr var. 'He still is today.'
As a helping verb, it functions in place of salew/'ì'awn that we discussed earlier:
Var nivume ko! 'Let's keep learning!'