Difference between revisions of "User:Aquatiki/Lesson 1"

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(→‎RR: new section)
 
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It might almost be better not to write 'R's in Na'vi with the English letter 'R'.  This is because you make the correct sound all the time, you just don't ever do it where an 'R' is written.  Think about the word '''water'''.  Say it aloud.  Unless you slowed down to a completely unnatural level, you did not actually say a 'T' sound in the middle.  Was it a 'D'?  Actually, it is a consonant with no name in English, but in most languages it's what passes for an 'R'.  It is, in fact, the Na'vi 'R'.
 
It might almost be better not to write 'R's in Na'vi with the English letter 'R'.  This is because you make the correct sound all the time, you just don't ever do it where an 'R' is written.  Think about the word '''water'''.  Say it aloud.  Unless you slowed down to a completely unnatural level, you did not actually say a 'T' sound in the middle.  Was it a 'D'?  Actually, it is a consonant with no name in English, but in most languages it's what passes for an 'R'.  It is, in fact, the Na'vi 'R'.
  
=== Double Consonants aka Pseudovowels ==
+
=== Double Liquids aka Pseudovowels ===
 
There are two digraphs in Na'vi which function as vowels but are made out of consonants.  Frommer calls these 'pseudovowels' and they take the place of vowels inside a syllable.
 
There are two digraphs in Na'vi which function as vowels but are made out of consonants.  Frommer calls these 'pseudovowels' and they take the place of vowels inside a syllable.
  
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  Refrrd
 
  Refrrd
  
It wouldn't change anything, other than the appearance on paper.  Well, Na'vi does this exact thing.  If you can't do an impression of a happy cat, now is the time to learn! Remember, as a digraph, 'RR' is written as two letters but represents one sound.
+
It wouldn't change anything, other than the appearance on paper.  Well, Na'vi does this exact thing.  If you can't do an impression of a happy cat, now is the time to learn!  
  
=== LL ===
+
==== LL ====
 
The other double-consonant sound in Na'vi is the double 'L'.  Again, the spelling of English words only hides the fact that you already make this sound, while writing it differently.
 
The other double-consonant sound in Na'vi is the double 'L'.  Again, the spelling of English words only hides the fact that you already make this sound, while writing it differently.
  
  Kull             Kll
+
  Kull                 Kll
  Pulling           Plling
+
  Pulling             Plling
  Able        --> Abll
+
  Able        -->     Abll
  Fiscal           Fiscll
+
  Fiscal               Fiscll
  
 
If you ask certain children to say "fail" slowly, you can hear that they say it as a two syllable word: fay + ll.  Perhaps your tongue is a bit too far back in your throat, and you sound a little bit like Jabba the Hut being strangled (stranglld?) but you are very close to the right sound.
 
If you ask certain children to say "fail" slowly, you can hear that they say it as a two syllable word: fay + ll.  Perhaps your tongue is a bit too far back in your throat, and you sound a little bit like Jabba the Hut being strangled (stranglld?) but you are very close to the right sound.
 +
 +
=== Other Double Consonants ===
 +
There are more sounds which we think of as having two parts, but which are only considered as one each in Na'vi.
 +
 +
==== NG ====
 +
A lot of Americans pronounce "running", "flying" and "jumping" as "runnin", "flyin" and "jumpin".  If you are among those who do, you may need extra practice with this next letter!  For greatest clarity, think about the word "singing".  You may skip the 'G' at the end, but you dare not skip the one in the middle or you'll be "sinning"!  Hold out the 'NG' sound for as long as you can.  Compare it to 'M' and 'N'.  Try to say "mooning" and leave out the vowels (this should feel like very strange humming).  Do you begin to feel how 'NG' is it's own sound?  It may feel precariously close to 'N', but then again, so is 'M'!
 +
 +
Why did you practice all that?  It was to prepare you for a shocker: in Na'vi, 'NG' can begin a word!  This is impossible in English, but rest assured many Earth language do it.  Most of the time, you can get away without even having to practice this, since there will be a word before the 'NG' and you can just move the 'N' back in your mind.  This is, in fact, a good way to practice the sound until you can make it stand on its own.  Let's look at a sentence.
 +
 +
'''Jakesully lu ngay.'''
 +
''Jake Sully is true.''
 +
 +
Start by saying,
 +
 +
'''Jakesully lun gay.'''
 +
 +
and then run it together.  To begin a word with 'NG', try saying it with a simple 'N' first.  The next time you say it, start with your tongue further back in your throat.  Listening a lot and practicing a lot are the keys to success.
 +
 +
==== TS ====
 +
In the movie ''Last Action Hero'', Arnold Schwarzenegger's character has never heard of Mozart.  When his name is mention, he imagines they are talking about someone named Moe Zart.  Think carefully about how that separation doesn't work.  If you really spelled out the famous composer's name the way we actually say it, it would have to be "Mo tsart" not "Mo zart".  We're used to 'TS' at the end of words like "bi'''tes'''" or "fi'''ts'''", but again, Na'vi was it at the beginning.
 +
 +
Another approach to learning this sound might be to consider how you can elongate a syllable.  Everyone has impersonated a snake and said something like:
 +
 +
  Sssssssay there sssssssonny!  That'sssssss a ssssssilly sssssnake sssssentence.
 +
 +
The 'S's can be protracted because you just put your tongue against your teeth and start forcing air through.  Now practice saying repeated 'T' sounds.  Your tongue begins in nearly the same spot, but pops off the roof of your mouth with a burst of air.  To make a 'TS' sound, simply start with your tongue in the 'T' position but burst into an 'S' instead.
 +
 +
=== Glottal Stops ===
 +
There is a sound that we have no letter for in English, and which appears in almost no words.  It's called a ''glottal stop'' by linguists, and the best example word I can think of is "uh-oh".  What did your mouth do about the time it came to the dash?  All the air stopped coming out of your throat, by some mechanism around your Adam's Apple.  In Na'vi, this sound is written as an apostrophe: '.
 +
 +
As with the other sounds, this will be easiest to hear and produce in the middle of words, and hardest at the beginning.  Practice stopping air like military personnel do in the midst of their chants.  "Hoo'raa!"
 +
 +
=== Ejectives ===
 +
The most fun, new sound in Na'vi is ejective.  These are click-like, explosive versions of the consonants you already know.  Frommer says "They're produced with a different airstream mechanism; they come off to the ear as popping sounds. They're not produced with air from the lungs; they're produced with air from the glottis."  There are ejective version of K, P and T, spelled in Na'vi as kx, px and tx.  (Again, as a digraph, they are written with two letters but represents one sound each.)
 +
 +
Frommer has given these instructions for pronouncing ejectives, using Tx as an example: "Hold your breath and make a T sound as loud as you can without breathing, and then add a vowel as quick as you can after it."

Latest revision as of 09:50, 21 February 2011

Na'vi is a fantastic, new language invented for the movie Avatar. Paul Frommer, the inventor, mixed rare and unique elements from human languages to create an alien language that is learnable, but exotic. Anyone can learn it, but everyone will have to overcome unfamiliar hurdles.

The first thing to realize about Na'vi is that writing is secondary. That is, the Na'vi people don't have a writing system and don't think of their language as having two forms. English speakers are used to have two very different modes of production. Think of these two sentences

I'm totally not gonna put up with it!

I find such a course of events to be intolerable.

Essentially, they mean the same thing, but one is written English and one spoken English. If you have studied rhetoric or public speaking, then you know the huge differences between the eye and the ear. Whenever possible, practice Na'vi aloud and develop your ear for it.

Familiar Sounds

Because the written system for Na'vi was invented solely to describe the sound system, there are no exception, no complicated rules for spelling. It also means that whenever you see a sound written down it is always that sound. (This is unlike English were the O-U-G-H in /tough/, /through/, /thorough/, /although/, /trough/ are all pronounced differently.) In Na'vi, an 'A' is an 'A' is an 'A'.

Here are sounds with which you should already be comfortable

written sound
a /ah/ as in father1
e /eh/ as in better2
f /f/ as in heffer
h /h/ as in reheat
i /i/ as in machine3
k /k/ as in kettle
l /l/ as in release
m /m/ as in remit
n /n/ as in renig
o /o/ as in mote4
p /p/ as in moped
s /s/ as in reset
t /t/ as in teach
u /u/ as in chute5
v /v/ as in revive
w /w/ as in rewire
y /y/ as in yodel
z /z/ as in zoology
  1. This is the same thing as a long 'E' sound.
  2. Do not make it a long 'E': there is another letter for that!
  3. Do not make it a short 'I' (as in /bit/): there will be another letter for that!
  4. Do not make it a short 'O' (as in /hot/): that doesn't exist in Na'vi.
  5. This can also be short (as in /cut/), but that's not important right now.

Diphthongs

Hopefully, that last table was reassuring to you: a majority of sounds in Na'vi are the same as in English!

There are more sounds in Na'vi which we have in English, but are written with two letters. One sound written with two symbols is a digraph. Most of these digraphs are diphthongs, two vowels run together into one, complicated sound.

written sound
aw /ah+u/ as in sound
ay /ah+ee/ as in fry
ew /eh+o/ as in Laosian1
ey /eh+ee/ as in make
  1. OK, I know this is cheating: it's not really an English sound. If you like, think of Tony Danza saying, "A-O, O-A!"

Diacriticals

Two more sounds are simple English vowels, but they are written strangely.

ä /a/ as in fat
ì /ih/ as in bit

These are sounds you know, but you can't type them on an American typewriter.

New Sounds

In Na'vi, there aren't really any sounds you've never heard before, but they occur in new ways and in strange places.

For a funny lesson on this sound, watch the part of Avatar when Neytiri is teaching Jake the word for "eye".

R

It might almost be better not to write 'R's in Na'vi with the English letter 'R'. This is because you make the correct sound all the time, you just don't ever do it where an 'R' is written. Think about the word water. Say it aloud. Unless you slowed down to a completely unnatural level, you did not actually say a 'T' sound in the middle. Was it a 'D'? Actually, it is a consonant with no name in English, but in most languages it's what passes for an 'R'. It is, in fact, the Na'vi 'R'.

Double Liquids aka Pseudovowels

There are two digraphs in Na'vi which function as vowels but are made out of consonants. Frommer calls these 'pseudovowels' and they take the place of vowels inside a syllable.

RR

Do you miss your American 'R' already? Well fear not, there is a place for the purring sound we all make, especially at the end of words, in English. Consider the following words:

Perfect
Purring
Infer
Referred

If you're like most American, the 'E's and the 'U's don't make any difference in your pronunciation of the 'R's. We make a sound not unlike a cat purring and the vowel doesn't even really matter. What if those same words were spelled thus:

Prrfect
Prring
Infrr
Refrrd

It wouldn't change anything, other than the appearance on paper. Well, Na'vi does this exact thing. If you can't do an impression of a happy cat, now is the time to learn!

LL

The other double-consonant sound in Na'vi is the double 'L'. Again, the spelling of English words only hides the fact that you already make this sound, while writing it differently.

Kull                 Kll
Pulling              Plling
Able         -->     Abll
Fiscal               Fiscll

If you ask certain children to say "fail" slowly, you can hear that they say it as a two syllable word: fay + ll. Perhaps your tongue is a bit too far back in your throat, and you sound a little bit like Jabba the Hut being strangled (stranglld?) but you are very close to the right sound.

Other Double Consonants

There are more sounds which we think of as having two parts, but which are only considered as one each in Na'vi.

NG

A lot of Americans pronounce "running", "flying" and "jumping" as "runnin", "flyin" and "jumpin". If you are among those who do, you may need extra practice with this next letter! For greatest clarity, think about the word "singing". You may skip the 'G' at the end, but you dare not skip the one in the middle or you'll be "sinning"! Hold out the 'NG' sound for as long as you can. Compare it to 'M' and 'N'. Try to say "mooning" and leave out the vowels (this should feel like very strange humming). Do you begin to feel how 'NG' is it's own sound? It may feel precariously close to 'N', but then again, so is 'M'!

Why did you practice all that? It was to prepare you for a shocker: in Na'vi, 'NG' can begin a word! This is impossible in English, but rest assured many Earth language do it. Most of the time, you can get away without even having to practice this, since there will be a word before the 'NG' and you can just move the 'N' back in your mind. This is, in fact, a good way to practice the sound until you can make it stand on its own. Let's look at a sentence.

Jakesully lu ngay.
Jake Sully is true.

Start by saying,

Jakesully lun gay.

and then run it together. To begin a word with 'NG', try saying it with a simple 'N' first. The next time you say it, start with your tongue further back in your throat. Listening a lot and practicing a lot are the keys to success.

TS

In the movie Last Action Hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character has never heard of Mozart. When his name is mention, he imagines they are talking about someone named Moe Zart. Think carefully about how that separation doesn't work. If you really spelled out the famous composer's name the way we actually say it, it would have to be "Mo tsart" not "Mo zart". We're used to 'TS' at the end of words like "bites" or "fits", but again, Na'vi was it at the beginning.

Another approach to learning this sound might be to consider how you can elongate a syllable. Everyone has impersonated a snake and said something like:

 Sssssssay there sssssssonny!  That'sssssss a ssssssilly sssssnake sssssentence.

The 'S's can be protracted because you just put your tongue against your teeth and start forcing air through. Now practice saying repeated 'T' sounds. Your tongue begins in nearly the same spot, but pops off the roof of your mouth with a burst of air. To make a 'TS' sound, simply start with your tongue in the 'T' position but burst into an 'S' instead.

Glottal Stops

There is a sound that we have no letter for in English, and which appears in almost no words. It's called a glottal stop by linguists, and the best example word I can think of is "uh-oh". What did your mouth do about the time it came to the dash? All the air stopped coming out of your throat, by some mechanism around your Adam's Apple. In Na'vi, this sound is written as an apostrophe: '.

As with the other sounds, this will be easiest to hear and produce in the middle of words, and hardest at the beginning. Practice stopping air like military personnel do in the midst of their chants. "Hoo'raa!"

Ejectives

The most fun, new sound in Na'vi is ejective. These are click-like, explosive versions of the consonants you already know. Frommer says "They're produced with a different airstream mechanism; they come off to the ear as popping sounds. They're not produced with air from the lungs; they're produced with air from the glottis." There are ejective version of K, P and T, spelled in Na'vi as kx, px and tx. (Again, as a digraph, they are written with two letters but represents one sound each.)

Frommer has given these instructions for pronouncing ejectives, using Tx as an example: "Hold your breath and make a T sound as loud as you can without breathing, and then add a vowel as quick as you can after it."