Navajo language

About Navajo language


Reading ''Adahooniigii — The Navajo Language Monthly''

'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.

Contents
Current use
Ethnography of speaking
Regional variation
Sounds
Vowels
Consonants
Syllable
Phonological processes
Grammar
Nouns
Possession
Postpositions
Numerals
Verbs
Verb Template
Pronominal inflection
Classifiers (transitivity prefixes)
Mode and aspect
Modes
Aspects and subaspects
Classificatory Verbs
yi-/bi- alternation (animacy)
Text example
See also
External links
Bibliography
Pedagogical
Linguistics & other reference

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 as such, 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 still moderately endangered, 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
:
★ ''short'', as in '''a''' and '''e''',
:
★ ''long'', as in '''aa''' and '''ee''',
:
★ ''nasalized'', as in '''ą''' and '''ęę''',
or with one of four tones:
:
★ ''high'', as in '''áá''' and '''éé''',
:
★ ''low'', as in '''aa''' and '''ee''',
:
★ ''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
central lateral plain labialized
Plosives plain 'b' 'd' 'g' ' ʼ '
aspirated 't' 'k' 'kw'
ejective 'tʼ' 'kʼ'
Affricates plain 'dz' 'dl' 'j'
aspirated 'ts' 'tł' 'ch'
ejective 'tsʼ ' 'tłʼ ' 'chʼ '
Continuant voiceless 's' 'ł' 'sh' 'h' 'hw' 'h'
voiced 'z' 'l' 'zh' 'gh' 'ghw'
Nasals 'm' 'n'
Approximants 'y' '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 is pronounced [x] when stem initial and [h] when prefixal or stem/word final. However, when [x] is preceded by 's' it is always written as 'x' and never as 'h' so that it will not be confused with 'sh' (e.g.'násxéés' "I'm turning around", but never 'náshéés'). The consonant 'gh' is written as 'y' before front vowels 'i' and 'e' (where it is palatalized ), as 'w' before 'o' (where it is labialized ), and as 'gh' before 'a'. The glottal stop 'ʼ' is not written at the beginning of words.
Syllable

The stems (e.g. 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 (e.g. 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 are labialized before the rounded back vowel 'o'.
:
Consonant Palatal Velar Labial
g [c] [k(ɣ)] –
k [cç] [kx] [kxʷ]
kʼ – [kʼ] [kʼʷ]
h [ç] [x] [xʷ]
gh [ʝ] [ɣ] [ɣʷ]

For 'gh', both the palatalization and labialization is represented in the orthography where is it written as 'y' for the palatalized variant and 'w' for the labialized variant. The orthography does not indicate the variants for the other consonants.
The voiced continuants 'z', 'l', 'zh', 'gh' at the beginning of stems vary with their voiceless counterparts 's', 'ł', 'sh', 'h', respectively. The voiceless variants occur when preceded by voiceless consonants, such as 's', 'sh', 'h', and 'ł'. For example, the following combinations of consonants show how voiceless 'ł' and 'sh' occur after voiceless 'sh' and 'h':
:
sh + l → shł
h + l → hł
sh + zh → shsh
h + zh → hsh

The voiced consonants occur between vowels or between a voiced consonant and a vowel. Thus, generally, Navajo does not have a contrast between voiced and voiceless stem-initial continuants. Examples of this contextual variation are the verb stem '-lááh' "gather, pick out" and the noun 'hosh' "thorn, cactus":
:
voiceless 'ł' náháshłááh "I gather them" (imperfective)
voiced 'l' náhálááʼ "I gathered them" (perfective)
voiceless 'h' hosh "cactus"
voiced 'w' biwosh "his cactus"

However, in some noun stems, the stem-initial continuant does not voice when intervocalic: 'ashįįh' "salt". In a few verb and noun stems,
voiceless stem-initial 's' varies with voiced stem-initial 'y', as in 'sin' "song" and 'biyiin' "his song" (instead of stem-initial 'z' as in 'séí' "sand" and 'bizéí' "his sand"). Navajo stems with the 's~y' alternation are derived from either Proto-Athabascan
★ x̯ or
★ y while Navajo stems with the 's~z' alternation are derived from Proto-Athabascan
★ z.

★ d-effect

★ n > high tone

★ expressive x clusters
Navajo has coronal sibilant consonant harmony. Alveolar sibilants in prefixes assimilate to post-alveolar sibilants in stems, and post-alveolar prefixal sibilants assimilate to alveolar stem sibilants. For example, the 'si-' stative perfective is realized as 'si-' or 'shi-' depending upon whether the stem contains a post-alveolar sibilant:
:
shibeezh "it is boiled" (perfective) 's' > 'sh', triggered by the stem-final 'zh'
sido "it is hot" (perfective)

Grammar


Typologically, Navajo is an agglutinating, polysynthetic head-marking language, but many of its affixes combine into contractions more like fusional languages. The canonical word order of Navajo is SOV. Athabaskan words are modified primarily by prefixes, which is unusual for an SOV language (suffixes are expected).
Navajo is a "verb-heavy" language — it has a great preponderance of verbs but relatively few nouns. In addition to verbs and nouns, Navajo has other elements such as pronouns, clitics of various functions, demonstratives, numerals, postpositions, adverbs, and conjunctions, among others. Harry Hoijer grouped all of the above into a word-class which he called ''particles'' (i.e., Navajo would then have verbs, nouns, and particles). There is nothing that corresponds to what are called ''adjectives'' in English — this adjectival function being provided by verbs.
Nouns

Many concepts expressed using nouns in other languages appear as verbs in Navajo. The majority of true nouns are not inflected for number, and there is no case marking. Noun phrases are often not needed to form grammatical sentences due to the informational content of the verb.
There are two main types of nouns in Navajo: simple nouns and nouns derived from verbs (called ''deverbal nouns''). The simple nouns can be distinguished by their ability to be inflected with a possessive prefix, as in 'béézh' "knife", 'bibeezh' "her knife" and 'hééł' "pack", 'shiyéél' "my pack".
Deverbal nouns are verbs (or verb phrases) that have been nominalized with a nominalizing enclitic or converted into a noun through zero derivation (that is, verbs that are used syntactically as nouns without an added nominalizer). An example of a nominalized verb is 'náʼoolkiłí' "clock", which is derived from the verb 'náʼoolkił' "something is moved slowly in a circle" and the '=í' nominalizer. Another example is 'hataałii' "singer" (from 'hataał' "he sings" + '=ii' nominalizer). Converted deverbal nouns include 'chʼéʼétiin' "exit, doorway" and 'Hoozdo' "Phoenix, Arizona" — when used as verbs 'chʼéʼétiin' may be translated into English as "something has/makes a path horizontally out" and 'hoozdo' as "place/space is hot". Deverbal nouns can potentially be long and complex, like '' "army tank" (from 'chidí naaʼnaʼí' "caterpillar tractor" (< 'chidí' "car", 'naaʼnaʼ' "it crawls about", '=í' nominalizer), 'beeʼeldǫǫhtsoh' "cannon" (< 'beeʼdldǫǫh' "explosion/boom is made with it", '=tsoh' "big"), 'bikááʼ' "on it", 'dah naaznil' "they sit up", '=ígíí' nominalizer).
Possession

Postpositions

Postpositions are morphologically similar to nouns in that they are also inflected with possessive prefixes.
Numerals

Navajo uses a decimal (base-10) numeral system. There are unique words for the cardinal numbers 1-10. The numerals 11-19 are formed by adding an additive "plus 10" suffix '-tsʼáadah' to the base numerals 1-9. The numerals 20-100 are formed by adding a multiplicative "times 10" suffix '-diin' to the base numerals 2-10.
:
base numeral +10 (-tsʼáadah) x10 (-diin)
1 łáaʼii łáʼtsʼáadah (11) –
2 naaki naakitsʼáadah (12) naadiin (20)
3 tááʼ táátsʼáadah (13) tádiin (30)
4 dį́į́ʼ dį́į́ʼtsʼáadah (14) dízdiin (40)
5 ashdlaʼ ashdlaʼáadah (15) ashdladiin (50)
6 hastą́ą́h hastą́ʼáadah (16) hastą́diin (60)
7 tsostsʼid tsostsʼidtsʼáadah (17) tsostsʼidiin (70)
8 tseebíí tseebíítsʼáadah (18) tseebídiin (80)
9 náhástʼéí náhástʼéítsʼáadah (19) náhástʼédiin (90)
10 neeznáá – neeznádiin (100)

In the compound numerals, the combining forms of the base numerals have irregular vowel and consonants changes (such as the loss of 'ʼ' and shortening of the vowel 'áá' in 'tá-diin' "thirty"). The numeral "one" has three forms: 'łáaʼii' (used in counting "one", "two", "three", etc.), 'łá' (a shortened combining form), 'tʼááłáʼí' (used in larger numbers and with a distributive plural prefix).
For the cardinal numerals higher than 20 between the multiples of 10 (i.e., 21-29, 31-39, 41-49, etc.), there are two types of formations. The numerals 21-29 and 41-49 are formed by suffixing the ones digit to the tens digit, as in 'naadįįnaaki' "twenty-two" (< 'naadiin' "twenty" + 'naaki' "two") and 'dízdįįłaʼ' "forty-one" (< 'dízdiin' "forty" + 'łaʼ' "one"). Here the '-diin' suffix appears in the form '-dįį-'. The other numerals are formed by placing 'dóó baʼąą' "and in addition to it" between the tens digit and the ones digit, as in 'tádiin dóó baʼąą tʼááłáʼí' "thirty-one" and 'ashdladiin dóó baʼąą tʼááʼ' "fifty-three". The numerals 41-49 may also be formed in this manner: "forty-two 'díziin dóó baʼąą naaki' or 'dízdįįnaaki'.
The cardinal numerals 100-900 are formed by adding the multiplicative enclitic '=di' to the base numerals 1-9 and adding the word for "hundred" 'neeznádiin', as in 'tʼááłáhádí neeznádiin' "one hundred", 'naakidi neeznádiin' "two hundred", 'táadi neeznádiin' "three hundred".
:
base numeral x100 (=di + neeznádiin)
1 tʼááłáʼí tʼááłáhádí neeznádiin (100)
2 naaki naakidi neeznádiin (200)
3 tááʼ táadi neeznádiin (300)
4 dį́į́ʼ dį́įʼdi neeznádiin (400)
5 ashdlaʼ ashdladi neeznádiin (500)
6 hastą́ą́h hastą́ądi neeznádiin (600)
7 tsostsʼid tsostsʼidi neeznádiin (700)
8 tseebíí tseebíidi neeznádiin (800)
9 náhástʼéí náhástʼéidi neeznádiin (900)

The base numerals with a high tone in the last syllable change to a falling tone before '=di'.
For the thousands, the word 'mííl' (from Spanish ''mil'') is used in conjunction with '=di': 'tʼááłáhádí mííl' "one thousand", 'naakidi mííl' "two thousand", etc. The word for "million" is formed by adding the stem '-tsoh' "big" to 'mííl': 'mííltsoh' "million" as in 'tʼááłáhádí mííltsoh' "one million", 'naakidi mííltsoh' "two million", etc.
Verbs

The key element in Navajo is the verb, which is notoriously complex. Verbs are composed of an abstract stem to which inflectional and/or derivational prefixes are added. Every verb must have at least one prefix. The prefixes are affixed to the verb in a specified order.
The Navajo verb can be sectioned into different components. The verb ''stem'' is composed of an abstract ''root'' and an often fused suffix. The stem together with a "classifier" prefix (and sometimes other thematic prefixes) make up the verb ''theme''. The thematic prefixes are prefixes that are non-productive, have limited derivational function, and no longer have a clearly defined meaning. Examples of thematic prefixes, include the archaic 'yá-' prefix, which only occurs on the verb stem '-tééh/-tiʼ' meaning "to talk" as in 'yáłtiʼ' "he's talking". The ''theme'' is then combined with derivational prefixes which in turn make up the verb ''base''. Finally, inflectional prefixes (which Young & Morgan call "paradigmatic prefixes") are affixed to the ''base'' — producing a complete Navajo verb.
Verb Template

The prefixes that occur on a Navajo verb are added in specified more or less rigid order according to prefix type. This type of morphology is called a ''position class template'' (or ''slot-and-filler template''). Below is a table of a recent proposal of the Navajo verb template (Young & Morgan 1987). Edward Sapir and Harry Hoijer were the first to propose an analysis of this type. A given verb will not have a prefix for every position. In fact, most Navajo verbs are not as complex as the template would seem to suggest: the maximum number of prefixes is around eight.
The Navajo verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. Two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior.
:
'disjunct prefixes' 'conjunct prefixes' 'stem'

The prefix complex may be subdivided into 11 positions, with some of the positions having even further subdivisions:
disjunct prefixes conjunct prefixes stem
0 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
postposition
object		 "null
postposition"		 adverbial-
thematic		 iterative plural direct object deictic adverbial-
thematic		 mode-
aspect		 subject classifier stem

Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix 'ʼa-' (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before 'di-', as in
: 'adisbąąs' "I'm starting to drive some kind of wheeled vehicle along" [ < ʼa- + di- + sh- + ł + -bąąs].
However, when 'ʼa-' occurs with the prefixes 'di-' and 'ni-', the 'ʼa-' metathesizes with 'di-', leading to an order of 'di-' + 'ʼa-' + 'ni-', as in
: 'diʼnisbąąs' "I'm in the act of driving some vehicle (into something) & getting stuck" [ < di-ʼa-ni-sh-ł-bąąs < ʼa- + di- + ni- + sh- + ł + -bąąs]
instead of the expected 'adinisbąąs' (ʼa-di-ni-sh-ł-bąąs) (note also that 'ʼa-' is reduced to 'ʼ-').
Although the verb template model of analysis has been traditionally used to describe the Navajo verb, other analyses have been proposed by Athabascanists.
Pronominal inflection

Navajo verbs have pronominal (i.e. pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See Mode and Aspect section below for a discussion of modes). The prefixes are inflected according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes (and their abbreviations as used by Young & Morgan) are listed in the table below:
:
Number Subject Prefixes Object Prefixes
Singular Dual-Plural Singular Dual-Plural
First (1) -sh- -iid- shi- nihi-
Second (2) ni- -oh- ni-
Third (3) -Ø- bi-
Third (3o) yi-
Fourth (3a) ji- ha- ~ ho-
Indefinite (3i) ʼa- ʼa-
Space (3s) ha- ~ ho- ha- ~ ho-
Reflexive – (ʼá)-di-
Reciprocal – ʼahi-

The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes ('-sh-', '-iid-', 'ni-', '-oh-') occur in position 8 directly before the classifier prefixes. The fourth, indefinite, and "space" subject prefixes ('ji-', 'ʼa-', 'ha-~ho-') are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 5. The third person subject is marked by the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated with a zero prefix '-Ø-' in position 8. The object prefixes can occur in position 4 as direct objects, in position 1a as "null postpositions", or in position 0 as the object of postpositions that have been incorporated into the verb complex.
The fourth person subject prefix 'ji-' is a kind of ''obviative'' third person. It refers primarily to persons or personified animals (unlike the regular third person). It has a number of uses including:

★ referring to the main character in narratives

★ distinguishing between two third person referents

★ referring politely or impersonally to certain individuals (e.g. when speaking to opposite-sex siblings, giving admonitions; cf. the tu-vous in French and other European languages)
When used as an impersonal, it may be translated into English as "one" as in 'béésh bee njinéego hálaʼ da jiigish' "one can cut one's hand playing with knives". The "space" prefix can be translated as "area, place, space, impersonal it" as in 'halgai' "the area/place is white" and 'nahałtin' "it is raining". The prefix has two forms: 'ha-' and 'ho-' with 'ho-' having derived forms such as 'hw-' and 'hwi-'.
An example paradigm for "to freeze" (imperfective mode) showing the subject prefixes:
:
Singular Dual-Plural
First yishtin "I freeze" yiitin "we (2+) freeze"
Second nitin "you freeze" wohtin "you (2+) freeze"
Third yitin "she/he/it/they freeze"
Fourth (3a) jitin "she/he/they freeze"
Indefinite (3i) atin "someone/something freezes"

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 are valence and voice markers. In spite of their misnomered name, they do not 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 (i.e. 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 do not 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 does not refer to tense, it is 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 is not 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 is 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:
"to curl, shrivel, contract into distorted shape"
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

"to smell, have an odor, stink"
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 do not occur depending mostly upon the semantics of the particular verb. Additionally, some aspects do not occur at all with a particular verb. The patterns of verb stem alternations are very complex although there is 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
SRO Solid Roundish Object bottle, ball, boot, box, etc.
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.
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.
OC Open Container glass of milk, spoonful of food, handful of flour, etc.
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:
:# handling
:# propelling
:# 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
:# '-ʼą́' "to handle (a round object)",
:# '-neʼ' "to throw (a round object)", and
:# '-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 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 is not passive. Passive verbs are formed by certain ''classifier'' prefixes (i.e., transitivity prefixes) that occur directly before the verb stem in position 9. The ''yi-/bi-'' prefixes do not 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':
:
'Free English translation':
: 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' '' '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' '' 'yinaalnishgo' 'tʼáá áłah' 'chʼil naʼatłʼoʼii' '' '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''

'' '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''

See also



★ Southern Athabaskan languages

External links



★ Navajo-English Database

★ Some English - Diné Dictionary ( pronunciations)

★ How Different can Languages be?: The grammatical mosaic of Navajo

★ Contrasts between Navajo consonants (sound files from Peter Ladefoged)

★ An Example of the Navajo Language (including audio)

★ page of Navajo language links

★ Dine Bizaad: The Navajo Language

★ Navajo Language & Bilingual Links (from San Juan school district)

★ Navajo Language Academy

★ Tuning in to Navajo: The Role of Radio in Native Language Maintenance

★ An Initial Exploration of the Navajo Nation's Language and Culture Initiative

★ Báʼóltaʼí Adoodleełgi Bínaʼniltingo Bił Hazʼą́ (Center for Diné Teacher Education)

★ Navajo fonts

★ THE NAVAJO LANGUAGE

★ Why No Writing on the Rez: An Inquiry into the History of Navajo Language Literacy

★ Navajo language (Encyclopedia of North American Indians)

★ Bibliography of Materials on the Navajo Language

★ Navajo vocabulary word list

★ Navajo Nation website

★ Inventory of the Robert W. Young Papers, 1860-1992 (bulk 1823-1980)

Bibliography


Pedagogical


★ Blair, Robert W.; Simmons, Leon; & Witherspoon, Gary. (1969). ''Navaho Basic Course''. BYU Printing Services.

★ Goossen, Irvy W. (1967). ''Navajo made easier: A course in conversational Navajo''. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Press.

★ Goossen, Irvy W. (1995). ''Diné bizaad: Speak, read, write Navajo''. Flagstaff, AZ: Salina Bookshelf. ISBN 0-9644189-1-6

★ Goossen, Irvy W. (1997). ''Diné bizaad: Sprechen, Lesen und Schreiben Sie Navajo''. Loder, P. B. (transl.). Flagstaff, AZ: Salina Bookshelf.

★ Haile, Berard. (1941–1948). ''Learning Navaho'', (Vols. 1–4). St. Michaels, AZ: St. Michael's Mission.

★ Platero, Paul R. (1986). ''Diné bizaad bee naadzo: A conversational Navajo text for secondary schools, colleges and adults''. Farmington, NM: Navajo Preparatory School.

★ Platero, Paul R.; Legah, Lorene; & Platero, Linda S. (1985). ''Diné bizaad bee naʼadzo: A Navajo language literacy and grammar text''. Farmington, NM: Navajo Language Institute.

★ Tapahonso, Luci, & Schick, Eleanor. (1995). ''Navajo ABC: A Diné alphabet book''. New York: Macmillan Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-689-80316-8

★ Witherspoon, Gary. (1985). ''Diné Bizaad Bóhooʼaah for secondary schools, colleges, and adults''. Farmington, NM: Navajo Language Institute.

★ Witherspoon, Gary. (1986). ''Diné Bizaad Bóhooʼaah I: A conversational Navajo text for secondary schools, colleges and adults''. Farmington, NM: Navajo Language Institute.

★ Wilson, Alan. (1969). ''Breakthrough Navajo: An introductory course''. Gallup, NM: The University of New Mexico, Gallup Branch.

★ Wilson, Alan. (1970). ''Laughter, the Navajo way''. Gallup, NM: The University of New Mexico at Gallup.

★ Wilson, Alan. (1978). ''Speak Navajo: An intermediate text in communication''. Gallup, NM: University of New Mexico, Gallup Branch.

★ Wilson, Garth A. (1995). ''Conversational Navajo workbook: An introductory course for non-native speakers.'' Blanding, UT: Conversational Navajo Publications. ISBN 0-938717-54-5.
Linguistics & other reference


★ Akmajian, Adrian; & Anderson, Stephen. (1970). On the use of the fourth person in Navajo, or Navajo made harder. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''36'' (1), 1–8.

★ Creamer, Mary Helen. (1974). Ranking in Navajo nouns. ''Navajo Language Review'', ''1'', 29–38.

★ Faltz, Leonard M. (1998). ''The Navajo verb: A grammar for students and scholars''. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1901-7 (hb), ISBN 0-8263-1902-5 (pbk)

★ Frishberg, Nancy. (1972). Navajo object markers and the great chain of being. In J. Kimball (Ed.), ''Syntax and semantics'' (Vol. 1, p. 259–266). New York: Seminar Press.

★ Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world, (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-106-9. (Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Nov. 19th, 2004).

★ Hale, Kenneth L. (1973). A note on subject-object inversion in Navajo. In B. B. Kachru, R. B. Lees, Y. Malkiel, A. Pietrangeli, & S. Saporta (Eds.), ''Issues in linguistics: Papers in honor of Henry and Renée Kahane'' (p. 300–309). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1945). ''Navaho phonology''. University of New Mexico publications in anthropology, (No. 1).

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1945). Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''11'' (1), 13–23.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''11'' (4), 193–203.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''12'' (1), 1–13.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''12'' (2), 51–59.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1948). The Apachean verb, part IV: Major form classes. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''14'' (4), 247–259.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1949). The Apachean verb, part V: The theme and prefix complex. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''15'' (1), 12–22.

★ Hoijer, Harry. (1970). ''A Navajo lexicon''. University of California Publications in Linguistics (No. 78). Berkeley: University of California Press.

★ Kari, James. (1975). The disjunct boundary in the Navajo and Tanaina verb prefix complexes. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''41'', 330–345.

★ Kari, James. (1976). Navajo verb prefix phonology. Garland Publishing Co.

★ McDonough, Joyce. (2003). ''The Navajo sound system''. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 1-4020-1351-5 (hb); ISBN 1-4020-1352-3 (pbk)

★ Reichard, Gladys A. (1951). ''Navaho grammar''. Publications of the American Ethnological Society (Vol. 21). New York: J. J. Augustin.

★ Sapir, Edward. (1932). Two Navaho puns. ''Language'', ''8'' (3) , 217-220.

★ Sapir, Edward, & Hoijer, Harry. (1942). ''Navaho texts''. William Dwight Whitney series, Linguistic Society of America.

★ Sapir, Edward, & Hoijer, Harry. (1967). ''Phonology and morphology of the Navaho language''. Berkeley: University of California Press.

★ Speas, Margaret. (1990). ''Phrase structure in natural language''. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0-7923-0755-0

★ Wall, C. Leon, & Morgan, William. (1994). ''Navajo-English dictionary''. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-0247-4. (Originally published [1958] by U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Branch of Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs).

★ Webster, Anthony K. (2004). Coyote Poems: Navajo Poetry, Intertextuality, and Language Choice. ''American Indian Culture and Research Journal'', ''28'', 69-91.

★ Webster, Anthony K. (2006). "ALk'idaa' Ma'ii Jooldlosh, Jini": Poetic Devices in Navajo Oral and Written Poetry. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''48(3)'', 233-265.

★ Witherspoon, Gary. (1971). Navajo categories of objects at rest. ''American Anthropologist'', ''73'', 110-127.

★ Witherspoon, Gary. (1977). ''Language and art in the Navajo universe''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08966-8; ISBN 0-472-08965-X

★ Yazzie, Sheldon A. (2005). ''Navajo for Beginners and Elementary Students''. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Press.

★ Young, Robert W. (2000). ''The Navajo verb system: An overview''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-2172-0 (hb); ISBN 0-8263-2176-3 (pbk)

★ Young, Robert W., & Morgan, William, Sr. (1987). ''The Navajo language: A grammar and colloquial dictionary'' (rev. ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1014-1

★ Young, Robert W.; Morgan, William; & Midgette, Sally. (1992). ''Analytical lexicon of Navajo''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0826313566; ISBN 0825313566

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