Gloss
A gloss (or interlinear gloss) is a style of showing the intermediate steps of translating a sentence or phrase, in order to more clearly show how the meaning is determined. Typically it consists of the following steps:
- The original text in the source language (in this case, Na'vi).
- (optional) The original text, annotated to show the location of affixes, infixes, inflections, etc.
- A literal, word-by-word translation annotated to show the meaning of each word, parts of speech, etc.
- A natural, idiomatic translation in the target language (here, English).
Example
Oeri ta peyä fahew akewong ontu teya längu. oe-ri ta peyä fahew a-kewong ontu teya l<äng>u 1-TOP from 3.POS smell ADJ-alien nose full be<PEJ> My nose is full of his alien smell.
Common abbreviations
Abbreviation | Meaning |
---|---|
1 | first person |
2 | second person |
3 | third person |
ABS | absolutive (in the case of Na'vi, equivalent to NTR) |
ACC | accusative |
ADJ | adjective |
ADV | adverb(ial) |
APB, APROB | approbative |
AUX | auxiliary |
CAUS | causative |
COP | copula |
DAT | dative |
DEM | demonstrative |
DIST | distal |
DU | dual |
ERG | ergative |
EX, EXCL | exclusive |
F | feminine |
FUT | future |
GEN | genitive |
IMP | imperative |
IMPV | imperfective. = IPFV |
IN, INCL | inclusive |
INTR | intransitive. = NTR |
IPFV | imperfective |
LAUD | laudative. In Na'vi, more accurately APROB |
M | masculine |
NEG | negation, negative |
NMZ | nominalizer/nominalization |
NTR, INTR | intransitive. |
PAS | passive |
PEJ | pejorative |
PFV | perfective |
PL | plural |
POS | possessive |
PRS, PRES | present |
PROH | prohibitive |
PROX | proximal/proximate |
PST | past |
PTCP | participle |
Q | question particle/marker |
QUOT | quotative |
RECP | reciprocal |
REFL | reflexive |
SJV | subjunctive |
SG | singular |
TOP | topic, topical case |
VOC | vocative |