Language Family
Navajo belongs to the Athabascan/Na-Dene language family (depending
on source) 47 distinct languages
3 branches: Athabascan (Apachean), Tlingit (Northern), and Haida
(Pacific Coast) Inclusion of Haida still controversial, Tlingit
viewed by some as
isolate
Language Family
Navajo belongs to Apachean subgroup Native to Western US and
Canada
Largest living language of Na-Dene family
Spoken ~ 175,000 people
Athabaskan Family Tree
Language Family
“Navajo” is an exonym originating from Tewa word “navahu” = “large
field”
“Navajo” known as “Dine Bizaad (people - language)” = “People’s
language” Navajos also call themselves Dine (“The People”)
Language Family
Athabascan most widely distributed Native American family 3
geographic divisions
Northern
Pacific
Southern
Athabascan tribes have the tendency to adopt practices/influences
from nearby peoples (Pueblos in South, Inuit in North)
Language Family
Difficult to distinguish one clear “Athabascan culture,” if any,
but basic characteristics: Tribes subdivided into loose bands/
family groups
Patriarchal society
Nomadic peoples
absence of an article indicates definiteness
No grammatical gender, even in third person!
Significant Grammatical Features
Noun classes based on animacy: supernatural beings > humans >
large animals > small animals > inanimate objects These
classes greatly affect the syntax: en entity of a
“lower” class cannot syntactically act upon an entity of a higher
class
If one wants to say in Navajo “A dog bit the man,” where in English
the dog can be the grammatical subject, the dog cannot be the
grammatical subject - the higher entity only can be the subject, so
the wording would be something like “The man let the dog bite
him.”
Significant Grammatical Features
Classificatory system for verb stems: the stem that is used is
dependent on the physical properties of the object (of verb),
movement of object, and state of object. For instance, the verb
“give” in Navajo has 11 different
forms depending on the object (and its characteristics) that is
undergoing the action (giving)
Naming Conventions
“Mother, father, son, daughter” used to address each other
instead
Given name only used during ceremonies
Old Navajo saying: “Nijaa' doogáá, nidí'nóodah!”
(If you say your name) “Your ears will dry up and fall off!”
Naming Conventions
Generally based on gender, features of the baby, nature, and totem
creatures (spirit animals invoked in times of need, protection,
vary from tribe to tribe)
Female: Yanaha = Brave
Gaagii = Raven
Niyol = Wind
Naming Conventions
Today, it is not taboo to ask for one’s name, especially as many
Navajo now have Christian/Western names, but Navajo names still
seriously cherished
Writing System
writing systems, no standard
linguist Robert Young and Navajo William Morgan
Young & Morgan, subsequent works
Writing System 48 characters total Long vowels are written
with
double letters, e.g., ee represents long /e/.
áá = high tone; aa = low tone; áa = rising tone; aá = falling
tone.
Nasal vowels are marked with an ogonek, e.g., represents nasal
/a/.
An apostrophe is used to mark ejective consonants
Writing System
Standard orthography at first unpopular and suspect among Navajos
due to previous Chirstianization/Westernization pushes for
literacy
With revival of interest in language and creation of standard
computer font, revived interest in learning orthography (especially
among youth)
Standard Navajo keyboard (top)
Fun Facts
One of the only Native American languages actually still GAINING
new speakers!
There are institutes, community colleges, and technical
universities with classes conducted in Navajo! (and likely the only
Native American language to do so)
Fun Facts Navajo’s language family, Na-Dene, is
hypothesized to be related to the Yeniseian languages of Central
Siberia
Based on grammatical evidence especially of the Ket language and
Proto-Yeniseian, and advances in reconstruction of Proto-Na-Dene,
systematic parallels (such as possessive morphology) were found and
highly accepted by Historical linguists (by linguist Edward
Vajda)
Fun Facts