Difference between revisions of "User:Erimeyz/Beginners' Guide"
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This is a placeholder where I will work on my Beginner's Guide. | This is a placeholder where I will work on my Beginner's Guide. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Comments and suggestions welcome, please put them on [[User talk:Erimeyz/Beginners' Guide|the talk page]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Sketch Outline === | ||
+ | Most of these will become separate pages. | ||
+ | * Welcome and introduction | ||
+ | * About the language | ||
+ | ** Background, history, publication | ||
+ | ** Why learn it? | ||
+ | ** Canon, corpus, analysis, speculation | ||
+ | ** Limitations - small vocab, pieces, missing, etc | ||
+ | ** What we can do with what we have - hold conversations, talk about hunting, etc. | ||
+ | ** What the future holds | ||
+ | ** ''Keep it simple, interesting, and short - include pointers to details elsewhere'' | ||
+ | * Na'vi in a nutshell | ||
+ | ** One-page overview of the language - orthography, phonology, grammar, etc. | ||
+ | ** Not enough detail to learn from | ||
+ | ** Just enough to whet the appetite and provide a basis for learning the details | ||
+ | * Letters and Sounds | ||
+ | ** Justification - why learning good pronunciation is important - it's a spoken language, and it's exotic and beautiful-sounding (by design!) | ||
+ | ** Quick overview of the orthography - point out the funny stuff but don't explain in detail | ||
+ | ** Easy vowels | ||
+ | ** Diphthongs | ||
+ | ** Easy consonants | ||
+ | ** Funny consonants - ng and ts, glides (contrast w/ diphthongs) | ||
+ | ** Sidebar: stress | ||
+ | ** ''First example words'' | ||
+ | ** Hard consonants 1 - r, rr, ll | ||
+ | ** Hard consonants 2 - glottal stop and ejectives | ||
+ | ** Consonant clusters | ||
+ | ** ''Second example words'' | ||
+ | ** ''Useful words, simple phrases - '''hey, look, you're speaking Na'vi now!''''' | ||
+ | ** Throughout all of the above: | ||
+ | *** ''No IPA, don't even mention it (that comes later when discussing dictionaries)'' | ||
+ | *** ''No discussion of phonotactics | ||
+ | *** ''Be precise - get them to make their final voiceless stops unreleased, careful with final ì, etc.'' | ||
+ | *** ''Even while being precise, be simple, concise, and friendly'' | ||
+ | *** ''Crib from the best explanations I can find in the forums etc.'' | ||
+ | *** ''Include links to the Ftiafpi audio clips'' | ||
+ | *** ''Include links to the best audio and video explanations I can find'' | ||
+ | * Basic grammar | ||
+ | ** Free word order, subjects and objects, case suffixes | ||
+ | ** Simple transitive sentences - ergative and accusative, allomorphs | ||
+ | ** Simple intransitive sentences | ||
+ | ** ''Example sentences, drill using same vocab with different cases and in different word order - '''hey, look, you're thinking in Na'vi now!''''' | ||
+ | ** Verb tenses, infixes - past, future | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill w/ tenses'' | ||
+ | ** Verb tenses - near past, near future | ||
+ | ** To be | ||
+ | ** Number prefixes, lenition | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill w/ tenses, number, and lenition'' | ||
+ | ** Sidebar: more about stress | ||
+ | ** Gender | ||
+ | ** Dative | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Adjectives | ||
+ | ** Genitive | ||
+ | ** Affect | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | * Intermediate grammar | ||
+ | ** Pronouns | ||
+ | ** Topical | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Adpositions - a few | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Adpositions - more | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Aspect | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Questions | ||
+ | ** Demonstratives | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | ** Particles | ||
+ | ** ''Sentence drill'' | ||
+ | * Now what? | ||
+ | ** Study guides, dictionaries, vocab drills | ||
+ | ** Reading and writing | ||
+ | ** Community involvement | ||
+ | ** Pointers to advanced topics |
Revision as of 06:49, 11 January 2010
This is a placeholder where I will work on my Beginner's Guide.
Comments and suggestions welcome, please put them on the talk page.
Sketch Outline
Most of these will become separate pages.
- Welcome and introduction
- About the language
- Background, history, publication
- Why learn it?
- Canon, corpus, analysis, speculation
- Limitations - small vocab, pieces, missing, etc
- What we can do with what we have - hold conversations, talk about hunting, etc.
- What the future holds
- Keep it simple, interesting, and short - include pointers to details elsewhere
- Na'vi in a nutshell
- One-page overview of the language - orthography, phonology, grammar, etc.
- Not enough detail to learn from
- Just enough to whet the appetite and provide a basis for learning the details
- Letters and Sounds
- Justification - why learning good pronunciation is important - it's a spoken language, and it's exotic and beautiful-sounding (by design!)
- Quick overview of the orthography - point out the funny stuff but don't explain in detail
- Easy vowels
- Diphthongs
- Easy consonants
- Funny consonants - ng and ts, glides (contrast w/ diphthongs)
- Sidebar: stress
- First example words
- Hard consonants 1 - r, rr, ll
- Hard consonants 2 - glottal stop and ejectives
- Consonant clusters
- Second example words
- Useful words, simple phrases - hey, look, you're speaking Na'vi now!
- Throughout all of the above:
- No IPA, don't even mention it (that comes later when discussing dictionaries)
- No discussion of phonotactics
- Be precise - get them to make their final voiceless stops unreleased, careful with final ì, etc.
- Even while being precise, be simple, concise, and friendly
- Crib from the best explanations I can find in the forums etc.
- Include links to the Ftiafpi audio clips
- Include links to the best audio and video explanations I can find
- Basic grammar
- Free word order, subjects and objects, case suffixes
- Simple transitive sentences - ergative and accusative, allomorphs
- Simple intransitive sentences
- Example sentences, drill using same vocab with different cases and in different word order - hey, look, you're thinking in Na'vi now!
- Verb tenses, infixes - past, future
- Sentence drill w/ tenses
- Verb tenses - near past, near future
- To be
- Number prefixes, lenition
- Sentence drill w/ tenses, number, and lenition
- Sidebar: more about stress
- Gender
- Dative
- Sentence drill
- Adjectives
- Genitive
- Affect
- Sentence drill
- Intermediate grammar
- Pronouns
- Topical
- Sentence drill
- Adpositions - a few
- Sentence drill
- Adpositions - more
- Sentence drill
- Aspect
- Sentence drill
- Questions
- Demonstratives
- Sentence drill
- Particles
- Sentence drill
- Now what?
- Study guides, dictionaries, vocab drills
- Reading and writing
- Community involvement
- Pointers to advanced topics