Happy spring! A couple days ago I started doing a little work definining words and phrases around apology, and somehow it mushroomed into a much larger-scale project concerning the language and formulas of social interaction in general. There was a whole lot that already existed but had never really been documented, another whole lot for which the structures or vocabulary were ripe for the picking but had not yet been established, and just a bit of creation of long-needed predicates.
Rather than laying this out as one enormous and ungainly post, let's do this as a series, kicking off with greetings. Note: Throughout these articles, translation into corresponding English equivalents is bound to be subjective and imprecise. I'll do my best, keeping in mind that my dialect is middle-class white Pacific Northwest American, spoken by an Xennial.
1. Greetings
The simplest way of greeting upon meeting someone is with forms of the predicate hei, literally "greet," listed in order from most to least formal:
héia "hello sir/ma'am"
hei "hello"
hei hei "hi"
héipa "hi there"
Héia adds the politeness particle -a (-ha after a final -a), which can be postposed to many of the expressions in this series; the effect is to add intentional, conscious formality or politeness to the utterance. English doesn't really grammaticalize this concept: héia still means "hello" or "hi," but in the context of talking to someone to whom one wants (or is expected) to show respect -- one's boss, for instance.
There are also expressions based on time of day. These use either koa "good" or tuni "peaceful":
amu koa, amu tuni "good morning"
pai koa, pai tuni "good day"
nahe koa, nahe tuni "good afternoon"
lila koa, lila tuni "good evening"
As usual, these could also include the polite -a if desired: ámua koa "good morning, respected person."
I feel like usage here is going to be so biased by my core languages that I don't really trust my own judgment. Based probably on English and Polish, I would instinctively suggest the expressions with amu up until noon, then nahe until 5pm or 6pm, then lila until bedtime...or pai while it's light, lila while it's dark.
Another possibility that breaks out of European conventions would be to designate the koa forms for greeting and the tuni forms for leavetaking, and just use the word for the literal time of day:
pai koa "good day (6am - 6pm, or whenever it's light)
ivo koa "night greetings (6pm - 6am, or whenever it's dark)
...or...
amu koa "good morning (6am - noon)
nahe koa "good afternoon (noon - 6pm)
lila koa "good evening (6pm - midnight)
vave koa "good wee hours" (midnight - 6am)
I kind of like that, though I've very much gotten used to saying ivo koa to my daughter as a leavetaking expression before bed. But why shouldn't there be a way to greet someone when it is, objectively, night? My intuitive cultural logic -- that "night" in this context refers only to time actually sleeping, in which case 3am still counts as "evening" -- is bellowing at me right now, so let's let this sit. I do really like the idea that e.g. amu koa and amu tuni could both correspond to English "good morning," but with a distinction between coming and going that most European languages don't care to make.
Not exactly a greeting, but also worthy of mention here is the affective ei! "hey!", used to attract attention.
2. Phrases of Meeting
Just a few useful social formulae:
kea sa se? "Who are you?"
kele sa senoa? "What's your name?" (Polite: kea sa se nóaha)
X sa ninoa "my name is X"
via/neli/cuti (poli) ko húise "(most) pleased/delighted/lovely to meet you"
kea se semai? "How are you?" = lit. "What is your subjective experience like?"
nimai X "I feel X"
eta se? or eta sese? "and you?"
ke tula sa? "What time is it?" = lit. "What hour is it?"
keka sa ka tula? "What is the time?"
(tula) lima (sa) "(it's) five (o'clock)
3. Farewells
As before, the simplest way to take leave is with the predicate moi "say goodbye," like Spanish despedirse or Polish żegnać:
móia "goodbye, sir/ma'am"
moi "goodbye"
moi moi "bye"
móipa "bye now"
Some other ways of taking leave:
mai koa "be well, take care"
mene tuni "go in peace, peace be with you"
ata ko hinae "see you later, until next time" = lit. "until seeing each other"
As before, with polite -a: máia koa, ménea tuni.
I might have included ivo koa "goodnight" in this section based on past usage, but I'll let the above discussion stand for now. More expressions specific to sleep:
nuku koa "sleep well"
moe meli "sweet dreams" = lit. "dream sweetly"
All for tonight! I'll be back soon with permission and forgiveness.
As usual, these could also include the polite -a if desired: ámua koa "good morning, respected person."
I feel like usage here is going to be so biased by my core languages that I don't really trust my own judgment. Based probably on English and Polish, I would instinctively suggest the expressions with amu up until noon, then nahe until 5pm or 6pm, then lila until bedtime...or pai while it's light, lila while it's dark.
Another possibility that breaks out of European conventions would be to designate the koa forms for greeting and the tuni forms for leavetaking, and just use the word for the literal time of day:
pai koa "good day (6am - 6pm, or whenever it's light)
ivo koa "night greetings (6pm - 6am, or whenever it's dark)
...or...
amu koa "good morning (6am - noon)
nahe koa "good afternoon (noon - 6pm)
lila koa "good evening (6pm - midnight)
vave koa "good wee hours" (midnight - 6am)
I kind of like that, though I've very much gotten used to saying ivo koa to my daughter as a leavetaking expression before bed. But why shouldn't there be a way to greet someone when it is, objectively, night? My intuitive cultural logic -- that "night" in this context refers only to time actually sleeping, in which case 3am still counts as "evening" -- is bellowing at me right now, so let's let this sit. I do really like the idea that e.g. amu koa and amu tuni could both correspond to English "good morning," but with a distinction between coming and going that most European languages don't care to make.
Not exactly a greeting, but also worthy of mention here is the affective ei! "hey!", used to attract attention.
2. Phrases of Meeting
Just a few useful social formulae:
kea sa se? "Who are you?"
kele sa senoa? "What's your name?" (Polite: kea sa se nóaha)
X sa ninoa "my name is X"
via/neli/cuti (poli) ko húise "(most) pleased/delighted/lovely to meet you"
kea se semai? "How are you?" = lit. "What is your subjective experience like?"
nimai X "I feel X"
eta se? or eta sese? "and you?"
ke tula sa? "What time is it?" = lit. "What hour is it?"
keka sa ka tula? "What is the time?"
(tula) lima (sa) "(it's) five (o'clock)
3. Farewells
As before, the simplest way to take leave is with the predicate moi "say goodbye," like Spanish despedirse or Polish żegnać:
móia "goodbye, sir/ma'am"
moi "goodbye"
moi moi "bye"
móipa "bye now"
Some other ways of taking leave:
mai koa "be well, take care"
mene tuni "go in peace, peace be with you"
ata ko hinae "see you later, until next time" = lit. "until seeing each other"
As before, with polite -a: máia koa, ménea tuni.
I might have included ivo koa "goodnight" in this section based on past usage, but I'll let the above discussion stand for now. More expressions specific to sleep:
nuku koa "sleep well"
moe meli "sweet dreams" = lit. "dream sweetly"
All for tonight! I'll be back soon with permission and forgiveness.
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