Lenition and the forms of the plural
To chage the meaning of a noun the Na’vi use pre- and suffixes. This page will be about most of the prefixes. A lot of prefixes cause lenition. So what is lenition?
Lenition
Lenition basically softens the sound of onset consonants of words a little bit. Every prefix which is causing lenition has a little + behind it. Like ay+. Here is a little table how lenition works and with which letters.
| ‘ | -> gone |
| K | -> H |
| KX | -> K |
| P | -> F |
| PX | -> P |
| T | -> S |
| TS | -> S |
| TX | -> T |
Some important rules:
‘ does not get lenitited, when it’s followed by ll or rr
If the lenition causing prefix ends with the same vowel as the lenited noun starts with, they become one vowel.
For example: ‘eylan -> me+ + ‘eylan -> meylan meeylan
Dual, Trial, Plural
Other than in German or in English the Na’vi have three forms of the plural. They distinguish between the form of two times this thing, three times this thing or four or more of this thing. Or said easier, the dual, trial and the plural. This is also done with the help of prefixes, otherwise it wouldn’t be in this lesson :D.
These are the prefixes for that:
| Singular | Dual | Trial | Plural |
| / | me+ | pxe+ | ay+ |
One more rule is, that the ay+ for the plural can be dropped, if the noun or pronoun got lenitited.
Some examples:
| Singular | Dual | Trial | Plural |
| ‘eylan | meylan | pxeylan | ayeylan / eylan |
| uran | meuran | pxeuran | ayuran |
| yayo | meyayo | pxeyayo | ayyayo |
| tute | mesute | pxesute | aysute / sute |
