Na'vi language

The Navi language is the constructed language of the

Navi, the sapient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of
the ctional moon Pandora in the 2009 lm Avatar.
It was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at the
USC Marshall School of Business with a doctorate in
linguistics. Navi was designed to t James Cameron's
conception of what the language should sound like in the
lm, to be realistically learnable by the ctional human
characters of the lm, and to be pronounceable by the
actors, but to not closely resemble any single human language.

a task that took six months.

2 Development
The Navi vocabulary was created by Frommer as needed
for the script. By the time casting for Avatar began,
the language was suciently developed that actors were
required to read and pronounce Navi dialogue during
auditions. During shooting Frommer worked with the
cast, helping them understand their Navi dialogue and
advising them on their Navi pronunciation, stress, and
intonation. Actors would often make mistakes in speaking Navi. In some cases, those mistakes were plausibly
explained as ones their human characters would make; in
other cases, the mistakes were incorporated into the language.

When the lm was released in 2009, Navi had a growing

vocabulary of about a thousand words, but understanding
of its grammar was limited to the languages creator.[1]
However, this has changed subsequently as Frommer has
expanded the lexicon to more than 2000 words[2] and has
published the grammar, thus making Navi a relatively
complete and learnable language.

Frommer expanded the vocabulary further in May 2009

when he worked on the Avatar video game, which required Navi words that had not been needed for the lm
script and thus had not yet been invented. Frommer also
translated into Navi four sets of song lyrics that had been
written by Cameron in English, and he helped vocalists
with their pronunciation during the recording of James
Horner's Avatar score. At the time of the lms release
on December 18, 2009, the Navi vocabulary consisted
of approximately 1000 words.

Roots

The Navi language has its origins in James Camerons

early work on Avatar. In 2005, while the lm was still in
scriptment form, Cameron felt it needed a complete, consistent language for the alien characters to speak. He had
written approximately thirty words for this alien language
but wanted a linguist to create the language in full. His
production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, contacted the linguistics department at the University of
Southern California seeking someone who would be interested in creating such a language. Edward Finegan, a
professor of linguistics at USC, thought that the project
would appeal to Paul Frommer, with whom he had coauthored a linguistics textbook, and so forwarded Lightstorms inquiry on to him. Frommer and Cameron met to
discuss the directors vision for the language and its use
in the lm; at the end of the meeting, Cameron shook
Frommers hand and said Welcome aboard.

Work on the Navi language has continued even after the

lms release. Frommer is working on a compendium
which he plans to deliver to Fox in the near future.[4] He
hopes that the language will have a life of its own,[5] and
thinks it would be wonderful if the language developed
a following.[3] Apparently, it has developed a following,
as is evident through the increasing learner community
of the language.[6] The communitys Lexical Expansion
Project, together with Frommer, has expanded the lexicon by more than 50 percent.

Frommer also maintains a blog, Naviteri, where he regularly posts additions to the lexicon and clarications on
Based on Camerons initial list of words, which had a grammar. Naviteri has been the source of the vast maPolynesian avor according to Frommer,[3] the linguist jority of Navi growth independent of Frommers contract
developed three dierent sets of meaningless words and with 20th Century Fox.
phrases that conveyed a sense of what an alien language
might sound like: one using contrasting tones, one using
varying vowel lengths, and one using ejective consonants.
Of the three, Cameron liked the sound of the ejectives 3 Structure and usage
most. His choice established the phonology that Frommer would use in developing the rest of the Navi lan- The Navi language was developed under three signiguage morphology, syntax, and an initial vocabulary cant constraints. First, Cameron wanted the language
1

3 STRUCTURE AND USAGE

to sound alien but pleasant and appealing to audiences.

Second, since the storyline included humans who have
learned to speak the language, it had to be a language
that humans could plausibly learn to speak. And nally,
the actors would have to be able to pronounce their Navi
dialogue without unreasonable diculty. The language
in its nal form contains several elements which are uncommon in human languages, such as verbal conjugation
using inxes. All Navi linguistic elements are found in
human languages, but the combination is unique.

3.1

Phonology and orthography

Navi lacks voiced plosives like [b] [d] [], but has the
ejective consonants [p] [t] [k], which are spelled px, tx,
kx. It also has the syllabic consonants ll and rr. There
are seven vowels, a e i o u. Although all the sounds
were designed to be pronounceable by the human actors
of the lm, there are unusual consonant clusters, as in
fngap [fap] metal.[7]

3.1.2 Consonants
There are twenty consonants. There are two Latin transcriptions: one that more closely approaches the ideal of
one letter per phoneme, with the c and g for [ts] and
[] (the values they have in much of Eastern Europe
and Polynesia, respectively), and a modied transcription
used for the actors, with the digraphs ts and ng used for
those sounds. In both transcriptions, the ejective consonants are written with digraphs in x, a convention that
appears to have no external inspiration.
The fricatives and the aricate, f v ts s z h, are restricted
to the onset of a syllable; the others may occur at the beginning or at the end (though w y in nal position are
considered parts of diphthongs, as they only occur as ay
ey aw ew and may be followed by another nal consonant, as in skxawng moron). However, in addition to
appearing before vowels, f ts s may form consonant clusters with any of the unrestricted consonants (the plosives
and liquids/glides) apart from , making for 39 clusters.
Other sequences occur across syllable boundaries, such
as Navi [na.vi] and ikran [ik.an] banshee.

Navi syllables may be as simple as a single vowel, or

as complex as skxawng moron or fngap above (both The plosives p t k are tenuis, as in Spanish or French. In nal position, they have no audible release, as in Indonesian
CCVC).
and other languages of Southeast Asia. The r is apped,
The ctional language Navi of Pandora is unwritten.
as in Spanish and Indonesian; it sounds a bit like the tt
However, the actual (studio) language is written in the
or dd in the American pronunciation of the words latter /
Latin script for the actors of Avatar. Some words inladder.
clude: zst year, fpeio ceremonial challenge, awve
rst (aw one), mui fair, tireaioang spirit animal,
tskxe rock, kllpxltu territory, uniltrantokx avatar 3.1.3 Sound change
(dream-walk-body).[8]

The plosives undergo lenition after certain prexes and

prepositions. The ejective consonants px tx kx become
3.1.1 Vowels
the corresponding plosives p t k; the plosives and aricate
p t ts k become the corresponding fricatives f s h; and the
There are seven monophthong vowels:
glottal stop disappears entirely. For example, the plural
as well as four diphthongs: aw [aw], ew [w], ay [aj], ey form of po s/he is ayfo they, with the p weakening
[j], and two syllabic consonants: ll [l] and rr [r], which into an f after the prex ay-.
mostly behave as vowels.
Lenition has its own signicance when the plural prex
Note that the e is open-mid while the o is close-mid, and can optionally be omitted. In the above example, ayfo
that there is no *oy. The rr is strongly trilled, and the ll can be shortened to fo. Similarly, the plural of tsmukan
brother can be smukan (from aysmukan).
is light, never a dark (velarized) *[].
These vowels may occur in sequences, as in the
Polynesian languages, Swahili, and Japanese. Each 3.2 Grammar
vowel counts as a syllable, so that tsaleioae has six
syllables, [tsa.l.i.o.a.e], and meoauniaea has eight, Navi has free word order. For example, the English I
[m.o.a.u.ni.a..a].
see you (a common greeting in Navi), can be as follows
Navi does not have vowel length or tone, but it does have in Navi:
contrastive stress: tte person, tut female person. Oel ngati kameie
Although stress may move with derivation, as here, it is
not aected by inection (case on nouns, tense on verbs, Ngati oel kameie
etc.). So, for example, the verb lu to be has stress on its OR
only vowel, the u, and no matter what else happens to it,
the stress stays on that vowel: lol was (l ol u), lolng Oel kameie ngati
All forms of I see you in Navi are completely correct.
was (ugh!)" (l ol ng u), etc.

3.2

Grammar

As sentences become more complex though, some words,

like adjectives and negatives, will have to stay in a more
or less xed position in the sentence, depending on what
the adjective or negative is describing.
Today is a good day
Ftrr lu sltsana trr
Sltsana trr ftrr lu

3
My nose is full (of his distasteful smell)", lit.
As for me, (my) nose is full"; since the topic
is I, the subject nose is associated with
me": That is, its understood to be my nose.
Nose itself is unmarked for case, as its the
subject of the intransitive verb to be. However, in most cases the genitive marker -y is
used for this purpose.

In this case, the adjective sltsan(a) (good) will need to

stay with the noun trr (day), therefore limiting the sentence to fewer combinations on the construction of the
sentence, but as long as it follows or precedes the noun,
the sentence is ne. By putting the attributive a before
the adjective, the adjective can be put after the noun:

Besides case, the role of a noun in a clause may be indicated with adpositions. Any adposition may occur as
either as a preposition before the noun, or as an enclitic
after the noun, a greater degree of freedom than English
allows. For example, with you may be either hu nga
or ngahu. When used as enclitics, they are much like the
numerous cases found in Hungarian and Finnish. When
Ftrr lu trr asltsan
used as prepositions, more along the lines of what English
More information about this can be found in the Adjecdoes, certain of them trigger lenition. One of the leniting
tives section.
prepositions is m in, as in m sokx in the body. This
may cause some ambiguity with short plurals: m sokx
could also be short for m aysokx in the bodies.[9]
3.2.1 Nouns
Navi pronouns encode clusivity. That is, there are dierNouns in Navi show greater number distinctions than ent words for we depending on whether the speaker is
those in most human languages do: besides singular and including his/her addressee or not. There are also special
plural, they not only have special dual forms for two of forms for the two of us (with or without the addressee),
an item (eyes, hands, lovers, etc.), which are common in the three of us, etc. They do not inect for gender; alhuman language (English has a remnant in both), but though it is possible to distinguish he from she, the
also trial forms for three of an item, which on Earth are distinction is optional.
only found with pronouns. Gender is only occasionally The deferential forms of I and you are ohe and
(and optionally) marked.
ngenga. Possessive forms include ngey your and pey
The plural prex is ay+, and the dual is me+. Both trig- her/his. He and she can optionally be dierentiated
ger lenition (indicated by the "+" signs rather than the as poan and po.
hyphens that usually mark prex boundaries). In nouns The grammatical distinctions made by nouns are also
which undergo lenition, the plural prex may be dropped, made by pronouns.
so the plural of tokx body is either aysokx or just sokx.
Masculine and feminine nouns may be distinguished by 3.2.2 Adjectives
sux. There are no articles (words for a or the).
Nouns are declined for case in a tripartite system, which Navi adjectives are uninectedthat is, they do not
is rare among human languages. In a tripartite system, agree with the noun they modifyand may occur either
there are distinct forms for the object of a clause, as in he before or after the noun. They are marked by a syllable
kicks the ball"; the agent of a transitive clause which has a, which is attached on the side closest to the noun. For
such an object, as in he kicks the ball"; and the subject example, a long river can be expressed either as,
of an intransitive clause, which does not have an object,
as in he runs. An object is marked with the accusative
sux -ti, and an agent with the ergative sux -l, while an
intransitive subject has no case sux. The use of such or as,
case forms leaves the word order of Navi largely free.
There are two other cases, genitive in -y, dative in -ru,
as well as a topic marker -ri. The latter is used to introduce the topic of the clause, and is somewhat equivalent to Japanese wa and the much less common English
as for. It preempts the case of the noun: that is, when
a noun is made topical, usually at the beginning of the
clause, it takes the -ri sux rather than the case sux
one would expect from its grammatical role. For example, in,

The free word order holds for all attributives: Genitives

(possessives) and relative clauses can also either precede
or follow the noun they modify. The latter especially allows for great freedom of expression.
The attributive ax a- is only used when an adjective
modies a noun. Predicative adjectives instead take the
be verb lu:

5 FURTHER READING
The river is long

3.2.3

t ay ar ng on [huntFUTPEJ] will
hunt": The speaker is anxious about or bored
by it

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated for tense and aspect, but not for
person. That is, they record distinctions like I am, I was,
I would, but not like I am, we are, s/he is. Conjugation relies exclusively on inxes, which are like suxes
but go inside the verb. To hunt, for example, is taron,
but hunted is t ol aron, with the inx ol .
There are two positions for inxes: after the onset (optional consonant(s)) of the penultimate syllable, and after
the onset of the nal syllable. Because many Navi verbs
have two syllables, these commonly occur on the rst and
last syllable. In monosyllabic words like lu be, they both
appear after the initial onset, keeping their relative order.
The rst inx position is taken by inxes for tense, aspect, mood, or combinations thereof; also appearing
in this position are participle, reexive, and causative
forms, the latter two of which may co-occur with a
tense/aspect/mood inx by preceding it. Tenses are past,
recent past, present (unmarked), future, and immediate
future; aspects are perfective (completed or contained)
and imperfective (ongoing or uncontained). The aspectual forms are not found in English but are somewhat like
the distinction between 'having done' and 'was doing'.

3.3 Lexicon
The Navi language currently has around 1,500 words.
These include a few English loan words such as kunsp
gunship. The published lexicon, including the odd inectional form, has been posted online. Additionally, fan
communities have attempted to add to the language or
learn what already exists. However, as Navi is a very
modular language, the total number of usable words far
exceeds the 1,500 dictionary words. For example: rol to
sing trusol the act of singing or ngop to create
ngopyu creator. Workarounds using existing words also
abound in the Navi corpus, such as eltu lefngap metallic
brain for computer and palulukantsyp little thanator
for cat.

4 References
[1] Do You Speak Na'vi? Giving Voice To 'Avatar' Aliens :
NPR. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
[2] Denitive Navi Dictionary.
2011.

Retrieved 25 October

taron [hunt] hunts

t m aron [huntREC] just hunted
t ay aron [huntFUT] will hunt
t er aron [huntIMPV] hunting
t ol aron [huntPFV] hunted
t r m aron [huntRECIMPV] was just
hunting
Tense and aspect need not be marked when they can be
understood by context or elsewhere in the sentence.
The second inx position is taken by inxes for aect
(speaker attitude, whether positive or negative) and for
evidentiality (uncertainty or indirect knowledge). For
example, in the greeting in the section on nouns, Oel
ngati kameie I See you, the verb kame to See is inected positively as kam ei e to indicate the pleasure the
speaker has in meeting you. In the subsequent sentence,
Oeri ontu teya lngu My nose is full (of his smell)", however, the phrase teya lu is full is inected pejoratively
as teya l ng u to indicate the speakers distaste at the
experience. Examples with both inx positions lled:
t rm ar ei on [huntREC.IMPVLAUD]
was just hunting": The speaker is happy about
it, whether due to success or just the pleasure
of the hunt

[3] Milani, Matteo (November 24, 2009). An interview

with Paul Frommer, Alien Language Creator for Avatar.
Unidentied Sound Object. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
[4] Sancton, Julian (December 1, 2009). Brushing up on
Na'vi, the Language of Avatar". Vanity Fair. Retrieved
January 16, 2010.
[5] Boucher, Geo (November 20, 2009). USC professor
creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar'". Los Angeles
Times. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
[6] Language of Avatar under study. UBC Media Releases.
July 28, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
[7] Na'vi, la langue d'Avatar, L'express, 1 December 2009
[8] Boucher, Geo (December 6, 2009). Linguist shapes
alien tongue. DelawareOnline.com. Retrieved February
11, 2012.
[9] When m is used as an enclitic, however, the noun is not
lenited: tokxm in the body, sokxm in the bodies.

5 Further reading
Boucher, Geo (November 20, 2009). USC professor creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar'".
Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 9, 2010.

5
Frommer, Paul; Zimmer, Benjamin (December 19,
2009). Some highlights of Navi. Language Log.
Retrieved January 9, 2010.
Milani, Matteo (November 24, 2009). An interview with Paul Frommer, Alien Language Creator
for Avatar. Unidentied Sound Object. Retrieved
January 9, 2010.
Sancton, Julian (December 1, 2009). Brushing up
on Na'vi, the Language of Avatar". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
Wilhelm, Maria; Mathison, Dirk (2009). James
Camerons Avatar: A Condential Report on the Biological and Social History of Pandora. New York
City: !t (HarperCollins). ISBN 0-06-189675-6.
Zimmer, Benjamin (December 4, 2009).
Skxawng!". The New York Times. Retrieved
January 9, 2010. This includes a sound recording
of Frommer saying several phrases in Navi.

External links
Naviteri.org - Paul Frommers blog about the Navi
language
Learnnavi.org - Provides a dictionary (multilingual),
grammar guide, and more
Dict-Na'vi.com - Navi/English online dictionary
(multilingual)
BBC interview from December 2009 in which
Frommer recites part of the Hunt Song (0818 broadcast: 3'30)

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1

Text

Na'vi language Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na'vi%20language?oldid=638834721 Contributors: WmAnnis, Susurrus, Schneelocke, Timwi, WhisperToMe, AnonMoos, GPHemsley, Kpalion, Lacrimosus, Rich Farmbrough, Rama, Goplat, Huntster, Kwamikagami,
Sebastian Goll, Wtmitchell, Fourthords, IJzeren Jan, Embryomystic, Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Mandarax, Nightscream, Koavf, Yug,
Wavelength, RUL3R, Closedmouth, Tropylium, Stalfur, SmackBot, Pandion auk, Kintetsubualo, Thumperward, Sinr, PrimeHunter,
Ioscius, Flyguy649, Cybercobra, Cast, IronGargoyle, The Man in Question, Hvn0413, NapB9, Basawala, ShelfSkewed, Cydebot, Wikiwow,
Hires an editor, AniRaptor2001, Avicennasis, Lilac Soul, Trusilver, McSly, Donmike10, VolkovBot, Je G., TXiKiBoT, Certiorari, Tovojolo, Sanfranman59, Nazar, Andreas Carter, Ivan tambuk, Enti342, Mimihitam, Goustien, RouterIncident, LonelyMarble, ClueBot, Pi
zero, Cirt, Kitsunegami, Jusdafax, Leonard^Bloom, Sun Creator, Tezero, Prof Wrong, Jovianeye, MystBot, Addbot, Oenbach, RYNO123,
DubaiTerminator, Tide rolls, Amateur55, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Ptbotgourou, Amirobot, Noodlekat, AnomieBOT, Rjanag, Ulric1313,
ArthurBot, Xqbot, Dr Oldekop, Mark Schierbecker, RibotBOT, Shadowjams, Adrignola, Thejadefalcon, LucienBOT, Aa48965, Alxeedo,
T3h 1337 b0y, MondalorBot, Dude1818, TobeBot, k, Zvalentiner, Katerenka, Makki98, Stephen MUFC, SnoFox, Shaip2014, Paleoalexpicturesltd, Enauspeaker, Glen1995, Chuck369, EmausBot, Sekhrah, Obidiah92, Na'vi, Nawm Taronyu, Gehrenity14, Lord Koala,
Racerx11, Solarra, K6ka, SilverRex1, Omngum Fra'uti, ZroBot, Macariuschan, Triedge31, Zaganakis, IJKL, Richlitt, Gcollect, ClueBot NG, Satellizer, Joefromrandb, Cyborg4, JoelMCharig, Helpful Pixie Bot, Zoname, iuade, Tukan Ogura, Iewcet, Eric John Ficher,
GhunwI', Monkbot, Neytiri te Tskaha and Anonymous: 158

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7.3

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