Kaltxì!
So, the Na’vi language: what do you think of it, and are you planning to learn it?
I’ve been studying it obsessively for the last two weeks, and I think it’s awesome - sounds really good, and has a fairly simple, though still appealingly exotic, grammar. I especially like how it handles the verbs. Conjugation done via infixes is very elegant, and produces good-sounding combinations mostly, though it makes the verb roots somewhat difficult to recognize in oral speech. Besides, the free word order and the way prepositions work both allow for a great freedom of expression.
Also, concerning those of the Na’vi kin here, who adhere to the ‘past life memories’ theory: isn’t it reasonable to suppose that learning and speaking the language will help unlock these memories further? (I personally don’t believe in the past lives or reincarnation, except in a Jungian sense, but that’s a topic for another time, I guess).
P.S. A great resource for learning the Na’vi tongue, with a very enthusiastic and dedicated community is www.learnnavi.org (though you probably know about it already).
P.P.S. You can listen to the Na'vi spoken by the language's creator, Paul Frommer, here: http://masempul.org/. This site also hosts a petition to Dr. Frommer to continue developing the language and sharing it with us. Please find time to sign it, if you haven't done so already!
- Language of the Na’vi
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ever_autumn wrote in
tothehometree- January 20th, 2010
contemplative
2010-01-23 11:49 am (UTC)
Looks pretty though.
2010-04-03 11:30 pm (UTC)
2010-01-23 02:21 pm (UTC)
2010-01-23 02:58 pm (UTC)
8)
2010-01-23 03:01 pm (UTC)
2010-01-23 03:08 pm (UTC)
2010-01-23 07:57 pm (UTC)
2010-01-23 03:05 pm (UTC)
Turkish(???) uses an kind of infix system for tenses and aspects, and for native speakers it's apparently easy to pick out.
Problem is offline life gets in the way and I haven't had time to learn it properly - I have too much work to do for my degree! Eep!
I'll sign the petition! I want to know more infixes and the correct number system... and everything!
2010-01-23 03:25 pm (UTC)
Also, I second what you've said about the offline life 8). I read my Na'vi textbook printouts in the metro, while taking a trip to the office.
2010-01-23 06:37 pm (UTC)
2010-01-26 07:06 pm (UTC)
2010-01-25 10:44 am (UTC)
Though if I were to start learning a geeky language, it'd have to be Quenya or Sindarin, 'cause Tolkien is the man.
Edited at 2010-01-25 10:44 am (UTC)
2010-01-25 11:09 am (UTC)
Well, tastes differ, I guess. Somehow, Tolkien's work have never resonated with me, though I admire the amount of effort he put into his Middle-earth.
Cameron's Avatar, on the other hand, proved to be highly addictive. Heady stuff 8)
2010-01-25 09:00 pm (UTC)
2010-01-26 07:14 pm (UTC)
Your username has a definitely Tolkienesque ring, I think. Have you studied Sindarin or Quenya?
2010-01-28 11:14 am (UTC)
I'm in general a conlang enthusiast, and am definitely going to be learning Na'vi - it's my new favorite thing, and I'm finding it brilliant and fascinating, very clever. It's too bad the corpus and lexicon is still so small and limited, but at least it's not as bad as the Atlantean language Marc Okrand created for the Disney film. -.- Now that was a frustrating experience.
2010-01-29 06:58 am (UTC)
Thanks for the explanation! I've never delved into Tolkien's lore beyond reading LOTR (not entirely my cup of tea), so that's interesting.
It's too bad the corpus and lexicon is still so small and limited...
Well, Dr. Frommer promised to expand it, once he gets permission from Fox Film...
Also,I think the vocabulary will always be somewhat limited. After all, the Na'vi live in a tribal hunter-gatherer society, so we are unlikely to get words for many modern realia, like "table" or "door", for instance.
...Atlantean language Marc Okrand created for the Disney film.
You mean Marc Okrand of the Klingon fame? Ah, yes. Googled it. I wasn't even aware this conlang existed 8)
Anyway, it's nice to have a real linguist visiting this community! I myself am a transport engineer who have picked up a few linguistic terms in recent weeks, so, um, yeah... 8)
2010-01-29 08:52 am (UTC)
My primary conlang interest is Quenya, I've been studying Tolkien's languages for more than 10 years now - going on 15 actually, I think. o.o I can recommend you some places if you'd like to find out more about it, it's very very pretty stuff.
Very good point about the limitations of the lexicon, but it is terribly frustrating to not even have all of the existing material published, or to know that the creator has knowledge that we simply can't access. I've lived with that for a long time in the case of D'ni, one of my other favorite languages, but in that case the creator has a - well, I don't know about good, but a personal/artistic reason for not releasing further info.
Okrand is awesome, I love him. He's really a great person, probably the best thing that ever happened to constructed/fictional languages. Atlantean had some truly fascinating quirks, and I am eternally saddened by the fact that Disney did not choose to support further development of the language. It was ugly as sin - so is Klingon for that matter lol - but my god, that man is brilliant.
Enthusiasm always counts! It's the number one thing that makes learning a language possible - and you've clearly got an affinity for it, so I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm really impressed with the folks over at learnnavi.org, the information that's available is being ordered and presented extremely well, and clear lines being drawn to avoid misinformation being spread, which is good.
You have no idea what an absolute mess it was in the Tolkien linguistic community after the LOTR movies came out, and suddenly everybody wanted to learn 'elvish'. Most of them didn't understand that Tolkien created more than one elvish language, and the High Elven tongue which we have the most info about and is most readily found and easier to study is not the one used in the movie - which is completely as it should be, due to the Grey-elven language being the one that was in daily use at the time, but so many fans confused and mixed them, and there was no central place that they could go to get complete and correct info because so much of the serious Tolkien linguistics community is old skool, and still held mainly on mailing lists of various sorts.
It was kind of a mess, and there is still so much misinformation floating around now that it's kind of sad. :( Anyway, I didn't mean to go on at you for so long! 8D Nice to meet you, and welcome to the awesome fun of constructed languages.
2010-01-29 09:59 am (UTC)
About the mess in the Tolkien linguistic community you mentioned - maybe it can prove beneficial in the long run?
My speculations are as follows: conlangs, unlike natural languages, come from a single source, (an author or a group of authors, obviously). However, neither Marc Okrand nor Paul Frommer are immortal, and neither was Tolkien. One way or another, sooner or later, the original authors will stop developing the language. After which it will become stagnant, unless the natural laws of language development kick in within the speakers' community.
So, maybe bastardization of the elven tongues can be seen as a natural process? Something like a (rather messy) birth of a living language from an artificial one?
P.S. Of course this can be wrong, because an Internet community is a very different thing from a real tribe or nation. Still, at some point people will start making stuff up, this is unavoidable 8)
2010-01-29 10:26 am (UTC)
I can elaborate if you like, though it would be better to take this discussion elsewhere since it is quite offtopic, now. 8D Poke me on aim if you like, kagemihari or drummertaliesin, or pm/email. :)
2010-01-29 11:02 am (UTC)
With pleasure! I'd prefer email, since it gives me time to think things over. Besides it is more convenient when posting from the office. 8)
2010-01-30 12:17 am (UTC)
2010-01-26 03:14 am (UTC)
Sìlpey oe huaynga plltxe ye'rìn!
Irayo ulte Eywa ngahu.
Pak! Stum ke fpìl oe pivlltxe tsnì oe ke sìltsan lu a nivume lì'fyat.
Edited at 2010-01-26 03:14 am (UTC)
2010-01-26 06:53 pm (UTC)
Ngayä aylì’u ngay lu, sì lì’fya leNa’vi ke lu ftue. Oeri nìteng zene nivume nìtxan fte oe tsun pivlltxe nìltsan. Pivlltxe ko, fte ayoeng nivumeie ‘awsiteng!
Благодарю за инфу
2011-07-22 07:11 pm (UTC)