阿凡达-纳美语学习）Linguistic-terminology-crash-course.pdfVIP

Crash course in linguistic terminology used for Na’Vi I. Pronunciation As many of you have already read and written using the standardized Na‟Vi form of writing, which is not the writing system of the Na‟Vi since they do not have one, you are by now familiar with the script. However, if you are not, we have here the standardized letters that we use to spell out names, known as the orthography, in brackets [ ] and the IPA symbols that correspond to the orthographic Na‟Vi letters next to those. IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet and is the standard system for linguistics in writing out how a word is to be spoken and understood. Please refer to the tables I have attached of both the Na‟Vi consonants and vowels with their IPA equivalents next to them(Table A), and also the standard IPA chart with all language sounds on them(Table B). Do not be daunted by the large multitude of sounds that most humanoid sentient beings possess, as there are many of them! What I would like for you to focus on are three aspects of any sound that we are capable of making: place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicedness. Place of Articulation When you produce the “b” sound, ask yourself what part of your mouth is moving? If you are producing the correct sound, you should be using both of your lips. This aspect of a sound refers to the location of where in your mouth the sound is being produced. If you were to produce the “f” sound, you would bring your bottom lip up to meet your upper teeth and blow air out, thus creating the /f/ sound. The term for this location of sound production is dubbed labiodental, named so for labio, “lip”, and dental, “teeth.” (Tables C D) show you from a cross section of the human head where in your mouth the top portion of the IPA consonant chart refers to and also what your mouth should roughly look like when