Navajo language Totally Explained

Everything about Navajo Language totally explained

Navajo or Navaho (native name: Diné bizaad) is an Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock) spoken in the southwest United States by the Navajo people (Diné). It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages (the majority of Athabaskan languages are spoken in northwest Canada and Alaska). Navajo claims more speakers than any other Native American or First Nation language north of the U.S.-Mexico border, with more than 100,000 native speakers, and this number has actually increased with time. During World War II, a code based on Navajo was used by code talkers to send secure military messages over radio.

Current use

The Navajo language is still widely spoken by Navajos of all ages, with over half of the Navajo population speaking the Navajo language at home. Many parents still pass on the Navajo language to their children as a first language, and because of this, the Navajo are one of the very few Native American tribes that still use the native language of their tribe as a form of everyday communication. However, the language is in decline, especially in urban areas outside of reservations, as more and more younger Navajos have started to shift to the English language. Even on the reservation, Census data indicate that between 1980 and 1990 the proportion of Navajos aged 5-17 who spoke only English rose from 12% to 28%, and by 2000, the figure reached 43%.

Ethnography of speaking

polite speech toward certain kin
ceremonial speech
war speech
puns

Regional variation

velar/nonvelar aspiration

lexical differences

Sounds

Vowels

There are four vowels in Navajo: a, e, i and o. Each of these may occur as ť * short, as in a and e,

   * long, as in aa and ee, ť * nasalized, as in ą and ęę,

or with one of four tones:
ť * high, as in áá and éé,

   * low, as in aa and ee, ť * rising, as in aá and eé or

   * falling, as in áa and ée.
   Various combinations of these features are possible, as in ą́ą́ (long, nasalized, high tone).

Consonants

The consonants of Navajo in the standard orthography are listed below, followed by their pronunciation in IPA notation in brackets:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
		Bilabial	central	lateral	Palatal	plain	labialized	Glottal
Plosives	plain	b [p]	d [t]			g [k]		ʼ [ʔ]
	aspirated		t [tx]			k [kx]	kw [kxʷ]
	ejective		tʼ [tʼ]			kʼ [kʼ]
Affricates	plain		dz [ts]	dl [tl]	j [tʃ]
	aspirated		ts [tsʰ]	tł [tɬʰ]	ch [tʃʰ]
	ejective		tsʼ [tsʼ]	tłʼ [tɬʼ]	chʼ [tʃʼ]
Fricative	voiceless		s [s]	ł [ɬ]	sh [ʃ]	h [x]	hw [xʷ]	h [h]
Fricative	voiced		z [z]		zh [ʒ]	gh [ɣ]	ghw [ɣʷ]
Nasals		m [m]	n [n]
Approximants				l [l]	y [j]		w [w]

Unlike its voiceless counterpart ł, the voiced l is phonetically an approximant (like in English). Like many northwestern American languages, Navajo is relatively poor in labial consonants.
In Navajo orthography, the letter h represents two different sounds: it's pronounced [x] when stem initial and [h] when prefixal or stem/word final. However, when [x] is preceded by s it's always written as x and never as h so that it won't be confused with sh (for examplenásxéés "I'm turning around", but never náshéés). The consonant gh [ɣ] is written as y before front vowels i and e (where it's palatalized [ʝ]), as w before o (where it's labialized [ɣʷ]), and as gh before a. The glottal stop ʼ isn't written at the beginning of words.

Syllable

The stems (for example noun stems, verb stems, etc.) have the following syllable type: CV(V)(C), where VV = a long vowel. That is, all syllables must have a consonant onset and a vowel nucleus. The vowel nucleus may be short or long and optionally followed by a consonant coda.
   Most prefixes generally have a syllable structure of CV-, such as chʼí- "out horizontally". Exceptions to this are certain verbal prefixes, such as the classifiers (-ł-, -l-, -d-) that occur directly before the verb stem, which consist of a single consonant -C-. A few other verbal prefixes, such as naa- "around, about" on the outer left edge of the verb have long vowels, CVV-. A few prefixes have more complex syllable shapes, such as hashtʼe- "ready, prepared" (CVCCV-).
   In some analyses, such as that of Harry Hoijer, consider conjunct verbal prefixes to have the syllable shape CV-. In other generative analyses (for example McDonough 2003), the same prefixes are considered to have only underlying consonants of the shape C-. Then, in certain environments, an epenthetic vowel (the default vowel is i) is inserted after the consonantal prefix by a phonological rule.
   All verbs must be disyllabic. Some verbs may only have a single overt nonsyllabic consonantal prefix or a prefix lacking an onset, or no prefix at all before the verb stem. Since all verbs are required to have two syllables, a meaningless prefix must be added to the verb to fulfill the disyllabic requirement. This prosodic prefix is known as a peg element in Athabascan terminology (Edward Sapir used the term pepet vowel). For example, the verb meaning "she/he/they is/are crying" has the following morphological composition: Ø-Ø-cha where both the imperfective modal prefix and the third person subject prefix are phonologically null morphemes and the verb stem is -cha. In order for this verb to be complete a yi- peg element must be prefixed to the verb stem, resulting in the verb form yicha. Another examples are verb yishcha "I'm crying" which is morphologically Ø-sh-cha (Ø- null imperfective modal, -sh- first person singular subject, -cha verb stem) and wohcha "you (2+) are crying" which is Ø-oh-cha (Ø- null imperfective modal, -oh- second person dual-plural subject, -cha verb stem). The glide consonant of the peg element is y before i, w before o, and gh before a.

Phonological processes

The dorsal consonants g, k, kʼ, h, and gh have contextual phonetic variants that depend on the surrounding vowel environments. They are realized as palatals before the front vowels i and e and as velars before the back vowels a and o. Additionally, they're labialized before the rounded back vowel o. ť

Classifiers (transitivity prefixes)

The "classifiers

" are prefixes of position 9 (the closest to the verb stem) that affect the transitivity of the verb, in that they're valence and voice markers. In spite of their misnomered name, they don't classify anything and are not related to the classificatory verb stems (which actually do classify nouns, see classificatory verbs below). There are four classifiers: -Ø-, -ł-, -d-, -l-. The -Ø- classifier is the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated by a zero morpheme.
   The -ł- classifier is a causative-transitivizing prefix of active verbs. It often can transitivize an intransitive -Ø- verb: yibéézh "it's boiling" (yi-Ø-béézh), yiłbéézh "he's boiling it (yi-ł-béézh); naʼniyęęsh "somethings flows about in a meandering fashion" (naʼni-Ø-yęęsh), naʼniłhęęsh "he's making it flow about in a meandering fashion" (naʼni-ł-yęęsh).
   The -d- classifier occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a -Ø- classifier: yizéés "he's singeing it" (yi-Ø-zéés), yidéés "it's being singed" (yi-d-zéés).
   The -l- occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a -ł- classifier: néíłtsááh "he's drying it" (ná-yi-ł-tsááh), náltsááh it's being dried" (ná-l-tsááh).
   Some verbs can occur with all four classifier prefixes:

siʼą́ "roundish object lies in position" (-Ø-ʼą́)

haatʼą́ "roundish object was taken up & out (for example extracted)" (-d-ʼą́)

séłʼą́ "I keep a roundish object in position" (-ł-ʼą́)

néshʼą́ "I have my head in position" (-l-ʼą́) In other verbs, the classifiers don't mark transitivity and are considered thematic prefixes that simply are required to occur with certain verb stems.

Mode and aspect

Navajo has a large number of aspectual, modal, and tense distinctions that are indicated by verb stem alternations (involving vowel and tonal ablaut and suffixation) often in combination with a range of prefixes. These are divided into seven "modes" and approximately twelve aspects and ten subaspects. (Although the term mode is traditionally used, most of the distinctions provided by the modes are in fact aspectual.) Each Navajo verb generally can occur in a number of mode and aspect category combinations.

Modes

Navajo has the following verb modes:

Imperfective

Perfective

Progressive

Future

Usitative

Iterative

Optative The modes above have five distinct verb stem forms. For example, the verb meaning "to play, tease" has the following five stem forms for the seven modes:

Mode	Stem Form
Imperfective	-né
Perfective	-neʼ
Progressive/Future	-neeł
Usitative/Iterative	-neeh
Optative	-né

The progressive and future modes share the same stem form as do the usitative and iterative modes. The optative mode usually has the same verb stem as the imperfective mode, although for some verbs the stem forms differ (in the example "to play, tease" above, the imperfective and the optative stems are the same).
   The imperfective indicates an event/action that has begun but remains incomplete. Although this mode doesn't refer to tense, it's usually translated into English as a present tense form: yishááh "I'm (in the act of) going/coming", yishą́ "I'm (in the act of) eating (something)". With the additional of adverbials, the imperfective can be used for events/actions in the past, present, or future. The mode is used in the second person for immediate imperatives. The imperfective mode has a distinct imperfective stem form and four different mode-aspect prefix paradigms: (1) with a ni- terminative prefix in position 7 as in nishááh "I'm in the act of arriving", (2) with a si- stative prefix in position 7 as in shishʼaah "I'm in the act of placing a SRO" in dah shishʼaah "I'm in the act of placing a SRO up" (dah "up"), (3) with no prefix in position 7, usually identified as a Ø- prefix, as in yishcha "I'm crying", (4) with either a yi- transitional or yi- semelfactive prefix in position 6 (and no prefix in position 7).
   The perfective indicates an event/action that has been completed and usually corresponds to English past tense: yíyáʼ "I went/came/arrived", yíyą́ą́ʼ "I ate (something)". However, since the perfective mode isn't a tense, it can be used to refer non-past actions, such as the future (where it may be translated as English "will have" + VERB). The perfective mode has a distinct perfective stem form and four different prefix paradigms: (1) with a yí- perfective prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in yíchʼid "I scratched it", (2) with a ní- terminative prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in níyá "I arrived", (3) with a sí- stative prefix with high tone in position 7 as in sélį́į́ʼ "I roasted it", (4) with a yi- transitional prefix in position 6 (and Ø- in position 7) as in yiizįʼ "I stood up".
   The progressive indicates an incomplete event/action that's ongoing without reference to the beginning or end of the event/action. This mode may be translated into English as BE + VERB-ing + "along": yishááł "I'm going/walking along", yishtééł "I'm carrying it along". The future mode is primarily a future tense — indicating a prospective event/action: deeshááł "I'll go/come", deeshį́į́ł "I'll eat (something)". The progressive mode has a yi- progressive prefix (in position 7), the future has a di- inceptive prefix (in position 6) and the yi- progressive prefix.
   The usitative indicates a repetitive event/action that takes place customarily: yishááh "I usually go", yishdlį́į́h "I always drink (something)". The iterative is a frequentative indicating a recurrent event/action that takes place repeatedly and customarily: chʼínáshdááh "repeatedly go out" as in ahbínígo tłʼóóʼgóó chʼínáshdááh "I always (repeatedly) go outdoors in the morning" (ahbínígo "in the morning", tłʼóóʼgóó "outdoors"), náshdlį́į́h "drink (something) repeatedly" as in nínádiishʼnahgo gohwééh náshdlį́į́h "I drink coffee when I get up" (nínádiishʼnahgo "when I get up", gohwééh "coffee"). The iterative is distinguished from the usitative by a ná- repetitive prefix (in position 2) and also sometimes by a -d- or -ł- classifier prefix (in position 9).
   The optative indicates a positive or negative desire or wish. The mode is used with the addition of adverbial particles that follow the verb, such as laanaa and lágo: nahółtą́ą́ʼ laanaa "I wish it would rain", nahółtą́ą́ʼ lágo "I hope it doesn't rain". With punctual verbs, the optative mode can be used to form a negative imperative: shinóółʼį́į́ʼ (lágo) "don't look at me!". In certain adverbial frames, the optative indicates positive or negative potential.

Aspects and subaspects

The Primary aspects:

Momentaneous - punctually (takes place point in time)

Continuative - indefinite span of time & movement with specified direction

Durative - indefinite span of time, non-locomotive uninterrupted continuum

Repetitive - continuum of repeated acts or connected series of acts

Conclusive - like durative but in perfective terminates with static sequel

Semelfactive - single act in repetitive series of acts

Distributive - distributive manipulation of objects or performance of actions

Diversative - movement distributed among things (similar to distributive)

Reversative - result in directional change

Conative - attempted action

Transitional - shift from one state to another

Cursive - progression in a line through time/space (only progressive mode) The subaspects:

Completive - event/action simply takes place

Terminative - stopping of action

Stative - sequentially durative and static

Inceptive - beginning of action

Terminal - inherently terminal action

Prolongative - arrested beginning or ending of action

Seriative - interconnected series of successive separate & distinct acts

Inchoative - focus on beginning of non-locomotion action

Reversionary - return to previous state/location

Semeliterative - single repetition of event/action Navajo modes co-occur with various aspects. For example, the verb "rain falls" can occur in the perfective mode with the momentaneous and distributive aspects: -tsąąʼ (perfective momentaneous), -tsįʼ (perfective distributive). As with the modes, different aspects have different stem forms even when in the same mode, as seen with the previous "rain falls" perfective stems. Thus, a given verb will have set of stem forms that can be classified into both a mode and an aspect category. Verb stem paradigms of mode and aspect are given below for two different verbs:

	Imperfective	Perfective	Progressive- Future	Usitative- Iterative	Optative
Momentaneous	-chʼííł	-chʼil	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼííł
Transitional	-chʼííł	-chʼiil	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼííł
Continuative, Conclusive	-chʼil	-chʼil	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼil
Semelfactive	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼił
Repetitive	-chʼił	–	–	–	–
Conative	-chʼiił	-chʼil	-chʼił	-chʼił	-chʼiił

	Imperfective	Perfective	Progressive- Future	Usitative- Iterative	Optative
Momentaneous, Diversative, Distributive	-chįįh	-chą́ą́ʼ	-chįįł	-chįįh	-chą́ą́ʼ
Continuative	-chą́ą́ʼ	-chą́ą́ʼ	-chį́į́ł	-chį́į́h	-chą́ą́ʼ
Conclusive	-chin	-chą́ą́ʼ	-chį́į́ł	-chįįh	-chą́ą́ʼ
Semelfactive	-chįh	-chįh	-chįh	-chįh	-chįh
Repetitive	-chą́ą́ʼ	–	–	–	–
Conative	-chį́į́h	–	–	–	–
Cursive	–	–	-chį́į́ł/-chį́į́h	–	–

As can be seen above, some aspect and mode combinations don't occur depending mostly upon the semantics of the particular verb. Additionally, some aspects don't occur at all with a particular verb. The patterns of verb stem alternations are very complex although there's a significant amount of homophony. A particularly important investigation into this area of the Navajo verb is Hardy (1979).

Classificatory Verbs

Navajo has verb stems that classify a particular object by its shape or other physical characteristics in addition to describing the movement or state of the object. These are known in Athabaskan linguistics as classificatory verb stems. These are usually identified by an acronym label. There are eleven primary classificatory "handling" verbs stems, which are listed below (given in the perfective mode):

Classifier+Stem	Label	Explanation	Examples
-ʼą́	SRO	Solid Roundish Object	bottle, ball, boot, box, etc.
-yį́	LPB	Load, Pack, Burden	backpack, bundle, sack, saddle, etc.
-ł-jool	NCM	Non-Compact Matter	bunch of hair or grass, cloud, fog, etc.
-lá	SFO	Slender Flexible Object	rope, mittens, socks, pile of fried onions, etc.
-tį'	SSO	Slender Stiff Object	arrow, bracelet, skillet, saw, etc.
-ł-tsooz	FFO	Flat Flexible Object	blanket, coat, sack of groceries, etc.
-tłééʼ	MM	Mushy Matter	ice cream, mud, slumped-over drunken person, etc.
-nil	PLO1	Plural Objects 1	eggs, balls, animals, coins, etc.
-jaaʼ	PLO2	Plural Objects 2	marbles, seeds, sugar, bugs, etc.
-ką́	OC	Open Container	glass of milk, spoonful of food, handful of flour, etc.
-ł-tį́	ANO	Animate Object	microbe, person, corpse, doll, etc.

To compare with English, Navajo has no single verb that corresponds to the English word give. In order to say the equivalent of Give me some hay!, the Navajo verb níłjool (NCM) must be used, while for Give me a cigarette! the verb nítįįh (SSO) must be used. The English verb give is expressed by eleven different verbs in Navajo, depending on the characteristics of the given object.
   In addition to defining the physical properties of the object, primary classificatory verb stems also can distinguish between the manner of movement of the object. The stems may then be grouped into three different categories:
ť # handling

   # propelling ť # free flight

Handling includes actions such as carrying, lowering, and taking. Propelling includes tossing, dropping, and throwing. Free flight includes falling, and flying through space.
   Using an example for the SRO category, Navajo has ť # -ʼą́ "to handle (a round object)",

   # -neʼ "to throw (a round object)", and ť # -l-tsʼid "(a round object) moves independently".

yi-/bi- alternation (animacy)

Like most Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan languages show various levels of animacy in its grammar, with certain nouns taking specific verb forms according to their rank in this animacy hierarchy. For instance, Navajo nouns can be ranked by animacy on a continuum from most animate (a human or lightning) to least animate (an abstraction) (Young & Morgan 1987: 65-66):
humans/lightning → infants/big animals → med-size animals → small animals → insects → natural forces → inanimate objects/plants → abstractions Generally, the most animate noun in a sentence must occur first while the noun with lesser animacy occurs second. If both nouns are equal in animacy, then either noun can occur in the first position. So, both example sentences (1) and (2) are correct. The yi- prefix on the verb indicates that the 1st noun is the subject and bi- indicates that the 2nd noun is the subject.

(1)	Ashkii	at'ééd	yiníł'į́.
	boy	girl	yi-look
	'The boy is looking at the girl.'

(2)	At'ééd	ashkii	biníł'į́.
	girl	boy	bi-look
	'The girl is being looked at by the boy.'

But example sentence (3) sounds wrong to most Navajo speakers because the less animate noun occurs before the more animate noun:

(3)	* Tsídii	at'ééd	yishtąsh.
	bird	girl	yi-pecked
	'The bird pecked the girl.'

In order to express this idea, the more animate noun must occur first, as in sentence (4):

(4)	At'ééd	tsídii	bishtąsh.
	girl	bird	bi-pecked
	'The girl was pecked by the bird.'

Note that although sentence (4) is translated into English with a passive verb, in Navajo it isn't passive. Passive verbs are formed by certain classifier prefixes (for example, transitivity prefixes) that occur directly before the verb stem in position 9. The yi-/bi- prefixes don't mark sentences as active or passive, but as direct or inverse.

Text example

Here is the first paragraph of a very short story in Young & Morgan (1987: 205a–205b). Diné bizaad:
ť Ashiiké tʼóó diigis léiʼ tółikaní łaʼ ádiilnííł dóó nihaa nahidoonih níigo yee hodeezʼą́ jiní. Áko tʼáá ałʼąą chʼil naʼatłʼoʼii kʼiidiilá dóó hááhgóóshį́į́ yinaalnishgo tʼáá áłah chʼil naʼatłʼoʼii néineestʼą́ jiní. Áádóó tółikaní áyiilaago tʼáá bíhígíí tʼáá ałʼąą tłʼízíkágí yiiʼ haidééłbįįd jiní. "Háadida díí tółikaní yígíí doo łaʼ ahaʼdiidził da," níigo ahaʼdeetʼą́ jiníʼ. Áádóó baa nahidoonih biniiyé kintahgóó dah yidiiłjid jiníʼ....

Free English translation:
ť Some crazy boys decided to make some wine to sell, so they each planted grapevines and, working hard on them, they raised them to maturity. Then, having made wine, they each filled a goatskin with it. They agreed that at no time would they give each other a drink of it, and they then set out for town lugging the goatskins on their backs....

Interlinear text:

Ashiiké	tʼóó diigis	léiʼ	tółikaní	łaʼ	ádiilnííł
boys	foolish	certain	wine	some	we'll make

dóó	nihaa	nahidoonih	níigo	yee	hodeezʼą́	jiní.
and	from us	it will be bought	they saying	with it	they planned	it is said

Áko	tʼáá ałʼąą	chʼil naʼatłʼoʼii	kʼiidiilá
so then	separately	grapevines	they planted them

dóó	hááhgóóshį́į́	yinaalnishgo	tʼáá áłah	chʼil naʼatłʼoʼii	néineestʼą́	jiní.
and	diligently	they working on them	they both	grapevines	they raised them	it is said

Áádóó	tółikaní	áyiilaago
and then	wine	they having made it

tʼáá bíhígíí	tʼáá ałʼąą	tłʼízíkágí	yiiʼ	haidééłbįįd	jiní.
each their own	separately	goatskins	in them	they filled it	it is said.

"Háadida	díí	tółikaní yígíí	doo	łaʼ	ahaʼdiidził	da,"	níigo
"any time	this	wine particular	not	some/any	we'll give each other	not,"	they saying

ahaʼdeetʼą́	jiníʼ.
they agreed	it is said.

Áádóó	baa	nahidoonih	biniiyé	kintahgóó	dah	yidiiłjid	jiníʼ.
and then	from then	it will be bought	its purpose	to town	off	they started back-packing it	it is said

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