Author: https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AtomClark
Archive: https://duolingo.hobune.stream/comment/30213932 (and related)
What to expect from Navajo
While the Navajo and Hawaiian courses may be underdeveloped at this point, I am still excited for what the future holds and hope the course grows into a full-fledged course. In the meantime, here are some features of Navajo that aspiring learners have to look forward to!
1) An absurdly complicated system of verbs - Navajo has 7 modes, 12 aspects and 10 subaspects. Modes display attitude toward what is happening (e.g. the indicative - states what is happening "The sky is blue", subjunctive "It is said the sky is blue", among others), aspects denote how an action/state extends over time (e.g. the English habitual 'he is going' as opposed to 'he goes') and subaspects are other aspects which can occur alongside a primary aspect.
Here are some interesting moods/aspects/subaspects which feature in Navajo:
· Conative - an action was attempted
· Semelfactive - the act occurred once in a repeated series of acts
· Semeliterative - the act was a single repetition of an event/action
· Reversative - the act results in directional change
· Optative - corresponds to the English phrase "May you have a long life!" or the phrase "if only"
All of these moods/aspects are marked with suffixes and ablaut (sound changes within the stem), all of which can stack to be very precise about an action and one's attitude towards it.
2) Advanced Geometric Lexicon - shapes which would require whole phrases to describe in English have single words attached to them in Navajo. Here are some examples:
· adziisgai = a group of parallel lines running off into the distance
· ahééhesgai = more than two lines forming concentric circles
· álhch'inidzigai = two lines coming together at a point
These terms can be used to describe the peculiar environment of north-east Arizona in which the Navajo reside. For instance the 'Elephant's Feet' (a natural site near Tonalea, AZ) in Navajo are called 'Tsé Áhé'ii'áhá' which translates to 'Two rocks standing vertically parallel'.
3) Inalienable possession - Navajo has nouns which cannot stand alone and only make sense when attached to another noun in a possessive relationship. For example '-be' means milk, but it is merely a root which does not make sense by itself. Attach 'bi-', which means 'her' to the front and you have yourself the actual noun for milk 'bibe'.
Nonetheless Navajo is quite flexible and allows you to get by this using the 'unspecified' possessor category marked with 'a-' (e.g. 'abe' also means milk, not necessarily belonging to a female). If you wanted to say 'her milk' but not the milk that the individual in question produces herself, you would have to attach the female possessive pronoun on top of 'abe'.
One noun subject to inalienable possession is introduced at the start of the Navajo course 'shimá' which means 'my mother'. To express the concept of 'mothers' in general, one would not use 'má' which is merely a root, but 'amá'.
4) Nasals, long vowels and tone - all of these affect the way vowels are pronounced and can be found the world over, but it is uncommon for all three to be found in one language.
5) Polysynthesism - Navajo is rarely classified as a fully polysynthetic language like Inuktitut, but it is the closest to a polysynthetic so far on Duolingo. A polysynthetic language refers to one which is rich in morphemes, affixes which stack together and stick onto a stem, each affix affecting each other's pronunciations in various complicated relationships. Be warned, these languages are mind-numbingly complicated for those learning them as foreign languages. Here is an example of what I am talking about:
· hééł = pack --> shiyéél = my pack
Note how when the first-person possessive pronoun 'shi' is added, the initial and final consonants of the noun changed.
English has this too. 'Social' and 'Society' share the same stem, but because of the adjectival and nominal suffixes added, both the vowel and final consonant of the stem change. The difference between English and Navajo is that in Navajo, you can attach far more affixes to encode far more information (as was partly demonstrated with the various moods and aspects mentioned above, which would require adverbs or paraphrasis (saying things in a round-about way) to express properly in English).
6) Animacy - Navajo bakes animacy into its grammar (as opposed to, say, French which bakes in gender instead). Navajo sentences are generally SOV (Subject Object Verb), however the order of the subject and object can change in a rather peculiar way. Observe the following sentences:
· Tsídii at'ééd yishtąsh = The bird pecked the girl.
Even though the subject (tsídii) and object (at'ééd) are supposedly in the correct order, the sentence itself is grammatically incorrect. This is because it is odd for the less animate actor in this sentence (the bird - tsídii) to come first. A corrected version of the sentence above would look like this:
· At'ééd tsídii bishtąsh = The girl was pecked by the bird
The 'yi' prefix is swapped for 'bi' to form the passive. Therefore the sentence is still SOV, but the nouns have been reordered so that the allegedly more animate noun comes first. Here is what the Navajo animacy hierarchy looks like (from most to least animate):
humans/lightning > infants/big animals > midsize animals > small animals > insects > natural forces > inanimate objects/plants > abstractions
7) Nouns vs. Verbs - because Navajo is so verb-savvy, its nouns can be classified as either regular nouns, or 'deverbal' nouns, nouns formed from verbs. We obviously have this in English too, but it is far more common in Navajo.
· ná'oolkiłí = clock, this is based off the verb 'ná'oolkił', which means 'it is moved slowly in a circle'
· 'Hoozdo' is the Navajo name of Phoenix, Arizona's capital and largest city, however it too is derived from a Navajo verb meaning 'place is hot'
8) Classificatory Verbs - verbs in Navajo inflect based on the class of the noun being referred to. For instance 'ní-' is a root which roughly corresponds to the English 'to give' but it makes no sense by itself. To say 'Give me some hay' would have to use the verb 'níłjool' which is the root with the suffix corresponding to 'non-compact matter' added on. Some of these noun classes are rather interesting, such as 'open containers' which includes glasses and handfuls, as well as 'mushy matter' which amusingly includes 'slumped-over drunk people'.
As well as specifying the object's physical properties, Navajo verbs also have 3 ways to distinguish the manner of the movement of the object:
· '-ʼą́' - Handling - includes carrying, lowering and taking
· '-neʼ' - Propelling - includes tossing, dropping and throwing
· '-l-tsʼid' - Free Flight - includes falling and independent movement
NOTE: because Navajo seems to introduce complexity wherever it can, these suffixes can change depending on the noun class used. The suffixes cited above are for Class 1 which is Round Objects. They may well look different for other classes.
9) Fourth person - Navajo marks its subjects and objects with prefixes according to person. It has the familiar 1st, 2nd and 3rd person, but also a 4th person, marked with 'ji-' for the subject and 'ha/ho-' for the object which can be used to refer to distant or non-salient things such as characters in a narrative or as a polite referent to socially-distant individuals. It can also be used to distinguish between multiple 3rd person actors.
Navajo also has an indefinite 3rd person on top of that to refer to when an indefinite actor is doing sth./having something done to it.
That's about every concept which I was able to wrap my head around. Of course there are many others which I imagine would require a PhD in Athabaskan Linguistics to understand and I came across many features in my research which would be dishonest to put up here pretending that I understand them.
Good luck! (you will need it after all)
Lesson 1
Hey everyone, it seems as though the Navajo course isn't going to expand or introduce grammar notes anytime soon, so I'm taking it upon myself to help you learners by providing my own lessons in the forum. I don't have a schedule in mind so don't expect posts to be daily or weekly or even regular, however do check the forum regularly for updates. Quick disclaimer: I am not a native/fluent Navajo speaker. I am an amateur linguist who started to take a great interest in the language shortly before the Duolingo course came out. Nonetheless, I will try my best to be as accurate as possible, and use only examples which I know for certain are correct.
My sources, in case you want to check them out yourselves, are The Navajo Verb - Leonard M. Faltz, Diné Bizaad: Speak, Read, Write Navajo - Irvy W. Goossen, as well as Wikipedia, Tatoeba and Glosbe.com's online Navajo dictionary.
In this first lesson, I want to introduce Navajo verbal morphology by looking at the Imperfect Mode. Navajo has (as far as I can tell) the most complicated verbal system of any language, however, like all languages, the number of rules and exceptions to said rules is finite and therefore learnable.
The Imperfective (I) mode is Navajo's most common mode. It refers an ongoing event/action, and is (for the most part) the equivalent of the English present tense.
Let's look at a fully conjugated, but very basic Navajo verb:
· naniné = You are playing
This can be deconstructed into three parts. The -né is the Imperfective stem of the verb "to play". The stem is always monosyllabic, and is always the final syllable, as Navajo is a heavily prefixing language (unlike English which is mostly suffixing).
The 'na' is what's called a lexical prefix. We don't have to worry about what that means for now, all you need to know is that it is an essential part of the verb "to play", and that the lexical prefix always comes before the subject prefix. 'Na' is an especially common lexical prefixes which will show up again in many of our verb bases.
The 'sh' is the first person singular subject prefix. Here is a chart of the subject prefixes in the imperfective mode (different modes use different sets of prefixes):
1Sg: sh
1DPl*: iid
2Sg: ni
2DPl: oh
3*: ø
· DPl stands for 'duoplural', these subject prefixes by themselves refer only to the dual (2), but they are used to construct plurals with the aid of another prefix which we will get to in the lesson.
· The third person has no singular-dual distinction. 'ø' is not a letter, it refers to 'nothing' (i.e. the subject prefix slot is empty in the 3rd person)
It is worth at this point laying out the structure of the verb, as a stem can take many prefixes, which follow each other in a fixed order:
· Outer Prefix(es) + Distr. Plural + Object Prefix + Inner Prefix(es) + Subject Prefix + Classifier + Stem
'Outer' and 'inner' are the two available slots for lexical prefixes, 'na' is an outer prefix (not that it makes a difference here). The 'classifier' can be ignored for now, as 'to play' does not take one. It is also worth mentioning at this point that the Outer Prefix(es) and Distributive Plural together are known as the 'Disjunct prefix', and the Object and Inner Prefixes are known together as the 'Conjunct prefix'.
Now let's write down the forms of the Imperfective 'to play':
· naashné = I am playing
· neii'né = We (2) are playing
· naniné = You are playing
· naohné = You (2) are playing
· naané = He/she/it/they(2) is/are playing <-- (to make things easier, in the future I'll just write he/she ..., however bear in mind that the 3rd person can refer to all these possibilities)
Now you may have noticed some curiosities. Namely, in the 1Sg and 3 person, the 'na' prefix got lengthened to 'naa', whilst two things happened with the 1DPl, the 'na' changed to 'ne' and the 'd' was replaced with a glottal stop. What's going on?
Well, what makes Navajo extra tricky is that it is a mixture of agglutinative and fusional. This means that it stacks lots of prefixes together, but instead of co-existing nicely the way they do in languages like Finnish or Swahili, these prefixes affect each other in various ways. Fortunately these phonological changes are rule governed, so we are now going to write down our first set of rules. A rule will always apply unless another rule blocks it from doing so:
· Rule Disj-1: when a disjunct prefix is followed by a consonant and the next syllable is the stem, then if the disj. prefix ends in an 'a', this gets lengthened to 'aa'.
(Rules are labelled according to the prefixes they affect, in this case, the rule affects the disj. prefix which, as stated earlier, refers to the outer prefix(es) and the distributive plural prefix.)
· Rule Disj-2: when a disjunct prefix is followed by a vowel, the following changes happen: 'a' becomes 'e' when followed by 'i' (unless it is preceded by the consonants 'g', 'gh', 'h', 'k' or 'k'' in which case nothing happens). If the 'á' is high tone, this carries onto the 'é'.
These rules seem quite daunting at first, but they are easily spotted and incorporated.
The final rule affects the subject prefix, and concerns the missing 'd' in "neii'né'":
· Rule Subj-1: when the 'd' at the end of the 1DPl prefix 'iid' is immediately followed by the first consonant of the stem syllable, it undergoes the 'd-effect'. (This effect will be left until later, for now just remember that 'd + n --> 'n)
Now Navajo also has a 4th person which is quite useful and worth learning to conjugate. The 4th (or 3a) person is used to indicate an unspecified or indefinite subject, and can also be used as a polite referent to someone within earshot. It has a prefix of its own 'j' which occupies the object prefix slot, whilst the regular 3rd person prefix is used in the subject prefix slot. (Note: 'j' is not an object, and if the verb does take an object prefix, the 'j' comes after it) Therefore:
· na + j + ø + né --> nijiné = one is playing
To explain this odd outcome, we need two more rules. The first of these concerns 'j' directly. Seeing as 'j' occupies the object prefix slot, it is a conjunct prefix, so this is our first conjunct rule:
Rule Conj-1: if a conjunct prefix ending in a consonant is directly followed by another consonant, the vowel 'i' is inserted between them
Rule Disj-3: the syllable 'na' becomes 'ni' when immediately followed by the 4th person 'j' or the distr. plural prefix
And on that note, let's move on to this distributive plural we've been mentioning. The prefix itself is simply 'da', and it occupies the slot marked Distr. Plural on the chart. It is accompanied by the duoplural subject prefixes. Let's use it to conjugate the verb "to play":
· nideii'né = We're playing
· nidaohné = You're playing
· nidaané = They're playing
· nidajiné = They're playing (4th person)
The 'ni' can be explained by Rule Disj-3 just above, whilst 'da' becoming 'de' in the 1Pl is the same phenomenon (Rule Disj-2) that affected 'na' in the 1DPl.
With that we can now conjugate verbs in the imperfective... unless they have classifiers, contain a fricative in their stem, take an object, have no lexical prefixes, are conjugated in other aspects, are... yeah... this language is difficult, but I've enjoyed unpacking its grammar and I hope you will too! The next lesson will be on an undisclosed topic at an undisclosed time so, stay tuned!
Lesson 2
Yá'át'ééh!
Last lesson we looked at the very basics of Navajo conjugation. Since Navajo has one of the most complex verb systems in the world (if not the most complicated), I will not wait for us to finish learning the verbal system before learning about other aspects of the language. Therefore I will alternate my lessons, one on verbs, the next on something else, then back to verbs, etc...
Today we are going to learn how to introduce oneself in Navajo. I will not cover basic greeting words as these are already in the course, instead, we will start looking into full but relatively basic sentences.
Once you've said hello, the next step is to say your name. You can do this in the following ways:
· Shí éí John. = I am John
In this sentence, 'shí' is an independent personal pronoun. These are not commonly used, except to emphasise the subject or when there is no verb present, as in this case. Here is a list of independent personal pronouns:
· Shí = I (1Sg)
· Ni = you (2Sg)
· Bí = he/she/it/them (2) (3Sg/DPl)
· Nihí = us/you (2) (1/2DPl)
· Danihí = us/you (pl) (1/2Pl)
· Daabí = they (3Pl)
'Éí' is not the verb "to be", but rather a demonstrative pronoun meaning 'that' or 'those'. In this case however it is merely a filler word. 'Éí' is a very common filler word, often used to separate two words which may other look connected.
'Éiyá' is another common filler, translating roughly to 'umm...'.
Now how do you ask what someone else's name is? As follows:
· Haash yinilyé? = What is your name?
'Haash' is a question word meaning 'how'. Most question words start with 'ha' (in the same way that most English question words start with 'wh'). The alternatives 'haa' and 'haashą'' are also acceptable (no need to worry about the difference as of yet).
'Yinilyé' is the conjugated verb meaning 'you are called'. As a response and alternative to the first sentence we saw today, you could say:
· Mary yinishyé. = My name is Mary.
(Just in case you need them, the 3rd person Singular and Plural conjugations of this verb are 'wolyé' and 'dawolyé')
Next we are going to learn about where you live. To ask where someone lives, use the following question:
· Háadi nighan? = Where is your home?
'Háadi' is another question word, whilst 'nighan' is not a verb but a possessed noun. '-ghan' is a stem meaning 'home', however it must take a possessive. This possessive could be the 3rd person 'space' prefix: 'ho-' (as in 'hoghan') however, seeing as we're asking someone, we are using the 2nd person possessive prefix, 'ni'. The possessive prefixes are the same as the independent personal pronouns above, but without high tone on the final vowel.
As a response, you could say:
· Tségháhoodzánídi shighan. = My home is in Window Rock.
'Tségháhoodzání' literally translates as "hole in the rock" and is the name of Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo nation. Some other Navajo place names include:
· Kin Łání (many houses) = Flagstaff
· Bee'eldíílahsinil (bells in elevated position) = Albuquerque
· Na'nízhoozhí (bridge) = Gallup
· Hoozdo (place is hot) = Phoenix (note 'ho-' the same deictic (spatial) prefix that appears in the word 'hoghan')
· Tóta' (between the waters) = Farmington
· Ch'ínlį́ (it flows out horizontally) = Chinle
· Tséhootsooí (meadow between rocks) = Fort Defiance
And of course 'Naat'áaniinééz' (tall boss) = Shiprock, already in the course. The '-di' at the end of the place name is a location prefix meaning 'in' or 'at'. 'Shighan' means 'my home', with 1Sg possessive 'shi-'.
How about family? Many Navajos will introduce themselves according to clan membership (there are 60 clans in the Navajo nation):
· Haa dóone'é nílį́? = What clan are you?
· Tódích'íi'nii éí nishłį́. = I am of the Bitterwater clan.
Or:
· Ha'át'íí bá shínílchíín? = For which clan are you born?
· Áshį́į́hí bá shíshchíín. = I was born for the Salt clan.
('Haa' and 'Ha'át'íí are interchangeable here)
'nilį́' = 'you are'. It is an irregular verbs, and conjugates as follows:
· Nishłį́ = I am
· Nílį́ = You are
· Nilį́ = He/she/it/they (2) is/are
· Niidlį́ = We (2) are
· Nohłį́ = You (2) are
· Daniilidį́ = We are
· Danohłį́ = You (pl) are
· Danilį́ = They are
'-á' is a postposition (Navajo has postpositions which go after the noun, as opposed to English prepositions) meaning 'for' or 'on behalf of'. In this case it is paired with 3rd person 'bi-' (the 'i' is only when preceding a consonant, it is eliminated before vowels), referring to the clan. Navajo kinship is matrilineal, meaning children are born into their mother's clan.
Most kinship terms are covered in the course, but here are some that are not:
· Atsilí = younger brother
· Adeezhí = younger sister
· Ach'ooní = spouse (there is another word 'asdzą́ą́' meaning 'wife', however this word is gender neutral)
· Análí = paternal grandfather/grandmother/grandchildren (here we see that matrilineal lineage's effect on the language, as their are fewer distinctions by gender or generation on the father's side of the family)
Note that all these terms (as well as the terms in the course) start with 'a-'. This is indefinite possessive prefix. Some Navajo words, including '-ghan' (see above), '-be' (milk) and all kinship terms and body parts, must take a possessive prefix. This is referred to as 'inalienable possession'. However if you want to refer to a general house or mother or foot, you can use the indefinite 'a-'. For example: amá = one's mother (vs. shimá = my mother or nihizhé'é = our father).
To say you have something, you use the possessed noun together with the stative verb 'hólǫ́' which means 'it exists' (plural 'dahólǫ́'). The opposite of this verb is 'ádin' = it does not exist (plural 'ádaadin').
· Da' nádí hólǫ́? = Do you have an older sister? (lit. Does your older sister exist?)
· Aoo', shádí hólǫ́. = Yes, I have an older sister.
Or...
· Ndaga', shádí ádin. = No, I do not have an older sister.
Here is an alternative construction:
· Ninaaíísh hólǫ́? = Do you have an older brother?
· Ndaga', shínaaí doo hólǫ́ǫ da. = No, I do not have an older brother.
There is a lot to unpack here. First, let's look at questions. We've already seen a couple of 'ha' question words, however how do you form a Y/N question? There are multiple ways, two of which are demonstrated here. You could use 'da'' at the start of the sentence, or you can suffix '-ísh' to the noun being inquired about. (the -ísh will adopt any vowel it is attached to, giving it high tone in the process).
A third way, corresponding to the English 'is/isn't it', is 'ya'' placed at the end of the sentence.
· Nimá dóó nizhé'é ba'áłchíní táá' ya'? = Your mother and father have three children, right?
In the sentence above, there is no need for the stative verb 'hólǫ́' as numerals can essentially serve the function of the stative verb. Therefore 'táá'' can mean 'there are three ...'.
Another peculiarity you may have noticed in the sentence above is the alternative construction of the negative. To negate any verb (not just statives), you can use the circumclitic 'dooda':
· Éí doo shí da. = That isn't mine.
This is a lot of information already so let's wrap it up with a goodbye. You've already learned Hágoónee' from the course, however as a common and shorter alternative you can use the Lą́'ąą interjection which corresponds to 'okay' or 'fine'. 'Jó nizhóní' is also commonly used in conversations, especially to draw them to a close. Jó is another interjection meaning 'well' or 'as you know' and 'nizhóní' is a stative verb meaning 'to be pretty/nice'. The whole thing translates to Well that's nice!
Lą́'ąą, hágoónee'!
Lesson 3
Yá'á't'ééh! Last lesson was about introducing yourself, so this lesson (seeing as I'm alternating between the verbal system and everything else), we will be continuing our exploration of the Navajo verb. By the end of the lesson you will know all you need to know to conjugate a regular verb in the Continuous Imperfective (Navajo's 'default'/most basic aspect).
Let's recap the overall structure of the verb:
· Outer Prefixes + Plural + Object Prefix + Inner Prefixes + Subject Prefix + Classifier + Stem
Recall that the outer prefixes and distributive plural 'da' together are referred to as the 'disjunct prefix' and that the object and inner prefix slots together are the 'conjunct prefix'.
In the last lesson we covered every slot here apart from the classifier. The classifier brings with it a lot of complications in certain other modes, however in the Imperfective, it is relatively simple, requiring us only to learn a few new rules.
First off, there are 4 classifiers in Navajo, and the classifier must be learnt as part of the 'verb base' (the verb base is all the information required about a specific verb to conjugate it, it includes the stem-set for the different modes, the lexical prefixes the verb takes, and which classifier it takes, as well as the transitivity and in most cases the type of conjugation. By the end of this lesson we will be able to introduce full verb bases). The 4 classifiers are: Ø, ł, l and d.
What do these do? Well, the name is misleading because they don't classify anything, instead they are 'valence' and 'voice' markers, although this is not an especially helpful way of looking at them as there is significant overlap between what they do. As a general rule, ø and ł verbs are transitive, whereas d and l verbs are intransitive, however this isn't always the case. I will be introducing the classifiers one by one, accompanied by a rough description of what they do, however just bear in mind that this description is not consistent.
The ø-classifier we have seen already, it is the lack of any classifier. So let's look next at the d-classifier. It occurs in most passive, reflexive and reciprocal derived from ø-classifier verbs. An important rule that must be learnt to apply this classifier is the 'd-effect' which was mentioned in the lesson 1. When the letter 'd' comes before the first consonant of the stem, d-effect occurs. The reaction of different consonants with the letter 'd' have to be learnt individually, but here are a few examples: d + ' --> t'; d + n --> 'n; d + ts --> ts; d + k --> k; d + z --> dz; d + gh --> g
To demonstrate this classifier, we'll look at a verb meaning 'to crawl around'. The imperfective stem is 'na'' and it takes the already seen outer prefix 'na'. In the 3rd person where the S prefix is ø the verb conjugates thusly:
· na + ø + d + na' --> naa'na' = he/she crawls around
Note the d-effect turning 'd' into a glottal stop, as well as Rule Disj-1 from the previous lesson on verbs lengthening the vowel to 'aa' before the stem syllable.
Next up, the ł-classifier is used for causative-transitivising active verbs. For instance, the verb 'yibéézh' means 'it is boiling', however it can be transitivised using this classifier: yiłbéézh = he's boiling it. To demonstrate the classifier here however we are going to use a verb meaning 'to remove by cutting'. The Imperfective stem of this verb is 'géésh' and it takes the outer prefix 'ha' (this prefix has a specific meaning, usually corresponding to English verbs followed by the preposition 'out' or 'of' (e.g. to cut off, to cut out - as seen in this verb)
Now because this verb is transitive it needs an object prefix. We are not going to cover Object prefixes in full detail yet, for now, we will simply introduce our first 'structure' rule, which covers the 3rd person object prefix which we will use here:
· Rule Str-1: if the subject of a transitive verb is 1st/2nd/4th person, the 3rd person object prefix is Ø, if the subject is 3rd person, the 3rd person O prefix is 'y'
With that in mind, let's construct a verb meaning "He/she cuts it out"
· ha + y + ø + ł + géésh = haiłgéésh
The y --> i change can be explained by the following new rule:
· Rule Conj-2: if a conjunct prefix 'y' is followed directly by a consonant and preceded by the final vowel of a disjunct prefix, it changes to 'i'
This works fine, however to construct the 1st singular, 1st duoplural and 2nd duoplural forms, there are new irregularities that need new rules:
· Rule Subj-2: the ł- and l-classifiers disappear when sandwiched between a subject prefix ending in 'sh'/'s' and the stem syllable. This is known as 'the sandwich rule':
· ha + ø + sh + ł + géésh --> haashgéésh = I cut it out
(Note also how Rule Disj-1 from earlier lengthened the 'a' of the outer prefix 'ha')
· Rule Subj-3: the 'd' at the end of the 1dpl subject prefix 'iid' disappears when immediately followed by the ł- or l-classifiers, the ł-classifier turns into an 'l' when this happens:
· ha + ø + iid + ł + géésh --> haiilgéésh = We (two) cut it out
· Rule Subj-4: the 'h' at the end of the 2dpl prefix 'oh' disappears when followed by the ł- or l-classifiers:
· ha + ø + oh + ł + géésh --> haołgéésh = You two cut it out
Finally, the l-classifier is used (like 'd') for passives, reciprocals and reflexives, but for verbs derived from ł-classifier verbs. We have already learnt all the rules required to apply the l-classifier from the ł-classifier just above. With that in mind, let's use it with the verb for 'to work'. The imperfective stem for this verb is 'nish' and it takes the outer prefix 'na' again:
· na + ni + l + nish --> nanilnish = You are working
· naashnish = I am working; neiilnish = We (two) are working; nidaołnish = You (plural) are learning; nijilnish = One is working, etc...
Seeing as the classifiers are a lot to take in, we'll finish off with a relatively minor and easy detail: prefixless verbs. So far we have only looked at verbs which take a lexical prefix of some sort, however many verbs don't. The problem is, verbs cannot be monosyllabic, so in the absence of any full syllable as a prefix, the peg prefix 'yi' is used (this carries no meaning). This is Rule Str-2.
To demonstrate, let's use the verb "to cry". The imperfective mode stem is '-cha'.
· ni + cha --> nicha = You are crying (since the 2Sg subject prefix is a full syllable, there is no need for the peg)
· yishcha = I am crying (the 1Sg subject prefix 'sh' is not a full syllable, so the peg 'yi' is added)
There is another detail required when conjugating prefixless verbs, namely, what happens when a verb is stranded with an initial vowel. This may not seem like a problem as this is permitted in English, but in Navajo it is not. To correct this, Rule Str-3 comes into play:
· Rule Str-3: if a verb is stranded with an initial vowel, 'y' is added to the verb if the vowel is 'i' and 'w' is added if the vowel is 'o':
· yiicha = We (two) are crying (note also the 'd-effect' deleting the 'd' at the end of 2Dpl 'iid')
· wohcha = You (two) are crying
But what if the initial vowel is an 'a'? In that case the 'a' is preceded by a glottal stop, however in Navajo orthography, glottal stops are not written at the front of the words, as whenever there is an initial vowel at the front of a word (whether it is a verb or not) it is always pronounced with an initial glottal stop, so there would be no point writing it.
Apart from few odd cases which will be covered in future lessons, you should now be able to conjugate a Navajo verb in its most basic aspect! These rules are a lot to take in, so I understand if you would rather learn Navajo by learning verb conjugations individually as they come along, however it is worth developing an understanding of the rules so you can at least recognise a verb's person, number, aspect, etc... without the full paradigm being introduced to you (as it is in many Navajo textbooks).
Lesson 4
Yá'át'ééh!
Last lesson we looked a bit more at verbs, so today we'll be looking at aspects of grammar outside of the verbal system, as well as a few more conversional tidbits.
If you are a Navajo learner, then you are a rare breed and will likely arouse the interest of Navajo speakers. Here's a little dialogue:
· Diné bizaadísh bíhooł'aah? = Are you learning Navajo?
· Aoo', diné bizaad bíhoosh'aah. = Yes, I am learning Navajo.
· Diné bizaadísh nił yá'át'ééh? = Do you like Navajo?
· Aoo', éí ayóo shił nizhóní. Nantł'ah ndi. = Yes, I find it very pretty, but (also) difficult.
'Diné bizaad' is Navajo for the Navajo language. 'Diné' is just means 'man' or 'human', so 'diné bizaad' means 'the people's language'. The word 'Navajo' comes from the Tewa word 'naabahu' which means 'they took our fields' (the Tewa being a Pueblo group whose domain borders the Navajo nation. The Navajo language can also be referred to as 'Naabeehó bizaad'.
English meanwhile is referred to as 'bilagáana bizaad', meaning 'white people's language'. (This term is not used for all European languages, Spanish is known as 'naakaii bizaad' - traveler's language)
In the above dialogue we can see many features and constructions outlined in the previous lesson, such as the demonstrative 'éí' and the question enclitic '-ísh'. However there are some new features to unpack.
Firstly, we have a couple of new little words such as 'ayóo' (or 'ayóogo') - a common and easy word meaning 'really/very'. It usually comes before the verb phrase (before the object and, if there is no object, before the verb); and 'ndi' (or 'nidi') which means 'but'.
Secondly, we have a new verb 'to learn it'. The verb demonstrates the 'b'/'y' alternation, which will be looked at later on in this lesson. It also takes the 'hw' lexical prefix which will be studied far later on in the verb lessons. For now just remember the forms:
· 1Sg: bíhoosh'aah
· 1Dpl: bíhwiil'aah
· 1Pl: bídahwiil'aah
· 2Sg/Dpl: bíhooł'aah
· 2Pl: bídahooł'aah
· 3Sg/Dpl: yíhooł'aah
· 3Pl: yídahooł'aah
Thirdly, we have 'yá'át'ééh'. You may be familiar with this word as a greeting, however it is actually a stative verb meaning 'it is good' (plural 'yá'ádaat'ééh'). You may also recall from the previous lesson the postposition '-á' meaning 'for'. Here we have a new postposition '-ł'. It means 'with', but when accompanied with a stative like 'yá'át'ééh' it can mean 'to sb., in sb.'s opinion'. Therefore:
· Naadą́ą́ shił yá'át'ééh. = I like corn. (lit. Corn is good with me)
We have two other examples of the "-ł + stative" construction in the dialogue using the statives 'nizhóní' = it is pretty and 'nantł'ah' = it is difficult.
We now know how to say that we like something, but how do we say that we like DOING something, or we find an action (rather than a noun) to be difficult. To do this we need the subordinating enclitic '-go', which is attached at the end of the verb to create a new clause, as follows:
· Diné bizaad bíhoosh'aahgo shił yá'át'ééh. = I like learning Navajo.
As with any other language, you can have as many clauses as you like in a sentence:
· John bilagáana nilį́įgo Kin Łánídi bighango diné bizaad yíhooł'aahgo ayóo bił yá'át'ééh. = John, (being) a white man living in Flagstaff, likes learning Navajo.
The '-go' enclitic is often used to build adverbs too:
· John nizhónígo diné bizaad yíhooł'aah. = John is learning Navajo nicely. (lit. John is learning Navajo, it being nice)
We will now turn to an important feature of Navajo grammar, the 'y/b' alternation. The Navajo 3rd person pronoun (attached to the front of postposition or as the object prefix in verbal constructions) is y/b. 'y' is used when both the subject and object are 3rd person:
· John bizhé'é yíká adoolwoł. = John is going to help his father.
'b' meanwhile is used when the subject is 1st/2nd person.
· John bíká adeeshwoł. = I will help John. (the subject is indicated on the verb in this example)
If you go back you can see the 'y/b' alternation on the outermost prefix of the verb 'to learn it' where the 'yí/bí' are object prefixes referring to 'it'.
However here is where it gets interesting. 'b' is also used for the 4th person or unspecified persons. So contrast the following two sentences:
· John bizhé'é yíká adoolwoł. = John is going to help his father.
· John bizhé'é bíká adoolwoł. = John's father is going to help him (John).
Because the second sentence takes 'b', there can only be one specified subject, therefore 'John bizhé'é' is reinterpreted to mean 'John's father', a single noun phrase, as opposed to two separate noun phrases in the first sentence. Since the object is unspecified, we assume it is John, as he is the only possible object in this sentence (to say that John's father was helping himself, we would need a reciprocal construction, the above is no such construction).
Note in the above examples a new postposition -'ká' which means 'for/after'. In this case it is used with the verb 'to help', a new verb in a new mode (the future to be precise). This will be covered further down the line in one of the verb lessons.
To finish this lesson I am going to introduce a few small, useful and relatively easy words which appear quite frequently:
We've already learned 'éí' as a determiner meaning 'that/he/she'. 'Díí' is another determiner which means 'this':
· Díí éí haash wolyé? = What is this called? (in English this sentence would sound very rude when referring to people, however in Navajo it is perfectly acceptable to do so)
'K'ad' means now and it can be placed pretty much anywhere in the sentence.
· K'ad John diné bizaad yíhooł'aah. = Now John is learning Navajo.
· John k'ad diné bizaad yíhooł'aah. = John is now learning Navajo.
· John diné bizaad yíhooł'aah k'ad. = John is learning Navajo now.
'T'áá' is harder to translate. It means 'just/only' or 'kind of', but occurs in many situations where this translation would make no sense:
· T'áásh nił yá'át'ééh? = Do you like it? (adds a degree of doubt)
· Aoo', t'áá yá'át'ééh. = Yes, it is pretty good.
· T'áá k'ad. = Right now.
'Lá' connotes emphasis or discovery, corresponding roughly to the English exclamation mark, although it can also be used in questions:
· Nizhóní lá. = That's nice!
· Háadi lá bighan? = Where could her home be?
· At'ééd lá! = It's a girl!
Lesson 5
Yá'á't'ééh!
(Note: if you haven't gone through the previous verb lessons then none of this will make sense)
Continuing our exploration of the Navajo verb, in this lesson we will move on to Navajo's 2nd most common and most complicated mode, the Perfective, however first, a couple of new rules to eschew any surprises that may arise with the Imperfective:
Rule Subj-5: states that if the pre-stem syllable has a short vowel in it, it will acquire high tone if the preceding vowel has high tone. A clear example of this is the verb "to speak" which takes the new outer prefix 'yá' (I mode stem is -ti' and classifier is ł):
· yá + ni + ł + ti' --> yáníłti' = you speak
· yá + da + ł + ti' --> yádaałti' = they speak - Here Rule Disj-1 lengthened the 'da' to 'daa' meaning it is not affected by Rule Subj-5
· yá + oh + ł + ti' --> yádaołti' = you two speak - Rule Subj-5 does not apply to diphthongs
Rule Subj-6: Navajo does not like having 'sh' and 's' (or the equivalent voiced pair) too close to eat other, so if a verb stem contains a 's', 'z', 'dz' or 'ts' then any 'sh' or 'zh' occurring before it in the verb will become 's' or 'z' whereas if the stem contains 'sh', 'zh', 'j' or 'ch', any preceding 's' or 'z' will become 'sh' or 'zh'. This is the "sibilant assimilation" rule.
To demonstrate, the verb "to think" (cl-ø, lexical prefix 'nitsí' (outer) and I mode stem: -kees):
· nitsí + sh + kees --> nitséskees = I think
The 'í' in 'nitsí' reacts in new ways to other vowels, so we need additions to existing rules to explain what's going on here:
Add to Rule Disj-1: í --> é before stem syllable
Add to Rule Disj-2: í + ii --> íi nitsíikees = we (two) think
Add to Rule Disj-2: í + o --> ó nitsóhkees = you two think
Now we may move on to the Perfective mode. There is a lot to unpack here, so it will require more than one lesson. Note that for every verb in Navajo you have to learn different stem endings for each mode (actually for 5 out of the 7 modes for reasons we'll see in a future lesson). The different stems are slightly rule-governed, but for now we'll just learn them individually.
The Perfective mode is the equivalent of the 'perfect' in other languages, meaning a completed action (like '-ed' in English). It is difficult because there are two common P mode conjugations, the s-P and y-P, and different classifiers in each of these conjugations require different subject prefixes, resulting in the need to memorise 6 subject prefix tables. Note that for every verb you have to learn beforehand whether it takes the s-P or y-P conjugation (again, there are some rules affecting this, but these are tenuous and will be left until much later).
In this lesson we'll only cover the s-P conjugation, which only requires 2 tables, the first is for verbs taking ø/ł classifiers:
· 1Sg: sé
· 1Dpl: siid
· 2Sg: síní
· 2Dpl: soo
· 3: z/s (z for ø, s for ł)
To demonstrate the s-P, we'll return to our first verb, 'to investigate'. The Perfective stem of this verb is -káá', it takes the ł-classifier and the 'na' outer prefix:
· 1Sg: niséłkáá'
· 1Dpl: nisiilkáá'
· 2Sg: nisíníłkáá'
· 2Dpl: nisoołkáá'
· 3: neiskáá'
· 4: nijiskáá'
No new rules have to be learnt here, we can simply insert the new s-P ø/ł subject prefixes into their slot and apply existing rules.
Note the 's' in 'neiskáá'' (he/she investigated). With a ø-classifier such as 'to play' (P mode stem: -ne') the 3rd S prefix in the s-P would be 'z':
· naazne' = he/she played
To finish off, the s-P prefixes for l/d-classifier verbs are:
· 1Sg: sis
· 1Dpl: siid
· 2Sg: síní
· 2Dpl: sooh
· 3: s
(Note that these are very similar to the ø/ł-classifier subject prefixes, so the 6 tables are not too difficult to get the hang of)
To demonstrate, we'll return to the verb 'to work', which takes the same stem in the P mode as the I mode: -nish
· nishishnish = I worked - Note the sibilant assimilation rule from earlier turning the 's's in 'sis' into 'sh's
· naashnish = he worked
· nidashoołnish = you guys worked - here the l-classifier is actually visible (albeit turned into 'ł' by the preceding 'h'), in the previous two examples, it was deleted by Rule Subj-2
To finish off, a demonstration of these prefixes with a d-classifier verb "to crawl around":
· nidasii'na' = we crawled around
· nijis'na' = one crawled around
· naas'na' = he/she crawled around
Lesson 6
Yá'át'ééh!
Welcome back to another Navajo lesson, this time focusing on general language skills as opposed to verbs.
We'll start off by looking at a couple of common things you might say about yourself/ask others which haven't been covered yet. The first is age.
First we need to learn our numbers and how to use them. These are all in the course itself so I won't repeat them all here. The thing to understand about numbers in Navajo is that they can all essentially act as verbs. Observe this sentence:
· Shimósí táá'. = I have three cats. (lit. My cats [are] three)
Here the number 3 (táá') behaves like a stative verb, similarly to 'hólǫ́', meaning 'it is three'. The combination possessive + stative gives you the equivalent of 'to have'.
This construction is used to express age by saying (sb. has X number of years).
· John naakitsʼáadah binááhai. = John is 12 years old.
This is not a perfect translation, because the 'nááhai' technically means 'the winters have passed', not 'the years have passed', but this is how age is expressed in Navajo. For babies, you could also use 'nídeezid' (the months have passed):
· She'awéé'* hastą́ą́ bińdeezid. = My baby is 6 months old.
*The 'she'' here is a case of the possessive pronoun assimilating a little weirdly prior to an ''a'. All other possessive pronouns behave the same way with 'awéé''
To ask someone's age, use the question word 'díkwíí':
· Díkwíí ninááhai? = How old are you? (lit. How many are your years?)
· Naadįįdį́į́ʼ shinááhai. = I am 24 years old.
Note: I mentioned in a previous lesson that Navajo verbs don't inflect according to number. This is mostly true, however there are a number of nouns, mostly kinship terms, which take '-ké' as a pluralising suffix. This can sometimes alter the noun itself slightly:
· Atsóí --> Atsóóké = maternal grandchildren
· At'ééd --> At'ééké = girls
· Aye' --> Aye'ké = man's sons
· Ach'é'é --> Ach'é'éké = woman's daughters
There is also the following completely irregular plural:
· Asdzání/Asdzą́ą́ = woman --> Sáanii = women
The next topic in this lesson is work. To talk about your job you will undoubtedly need the verb 'to work'. Here is the paradigm for said verb in the imperfective:
· naashnish = I work
· nanilnish = you work
· naalnish = he/she works
· neiilnish = we (2) work
· naałnish = you (2) work
· nideiilnish = we work
· nidaałnish = you (pl) work
· nidaalnish = they work
Combined with the postposition '-á', you can say for whom one works:
· Shimá Tó Dinéeshzhee'di ólta' bá naalnish. = My mother works for Kayenta school. (Tó Dinéeshzhee'di - fringed by fingers of water = Kayenta, AZ)
· T'áá hooghandi naashnish. = I work from home.
We will now combine the two sections of this lesson to learn how to say how long you worked somewhere.
· K'ai'* azee’ál’į́įdí yá naalnishgo naaki nááhai. = Kai has worked for the hospital for two years.
*K'ai' is a girl's name which literally means 'willow tree'.
Let's deconstruct this sentence. Because both Subject and Object are mentioned in the first clause, the prefix 'y-' is attached to the postposition '-á' (for, on behalf of). Attached to 'naalnish' (he/she works) is the subordinating clitic '-go', making it clear where the clause ends. The second clause simply means 'two winters have passed', referring to Kai's working at the hospital (azee’ál’į́).
Just to build on this construction, if there is no subordinate clause for the 'nááhai/nídeezid' to refer to, the postposition '-ee' will be needed:
· Áadi tseebíí nihee nídeezid. = We (or you for that matter) were there for eight months.
'-ee' is a new postposition translating roughly as 'with' or 'by means of'. In this case it is used to refer to time spent.
To finish off we will learn what I feel is the most important things for beginners in a new language to learn. How to ask 'how to say X'.
First, a set phrase you should learn is the following:
· Shíká adíílwoł. = Can you help me?
Requests in Navajo can seem a bit rude and abrupt as the literal translation of this phrase is 'you will help me' (future mode), however just because the English translation of a phrase sounds rude does not mean it is so in the original language.
· 'T'áá shǫǫdí' means please, but is not typically used with requests but rather with favours.
· Dinék'ehjí hait'áo ... ájíniih? = How do you say ... in Navajo?
'-k'ehjí' is a suffix which means 'in a language' (e.g. Bilagáanak'ehjí = in English). 'Hait'áo' is the question word 'how'. 'Ájíniih' is the verb 'to say' conjugated in the 4th (indefinite) person, as in 'how does one say ...'
To finish off, what if you don't hear the answer properly, or simply want to double-check?
Again, the verb 'to say' is used, but this time in a different mode and aspect. Here the semeliterative aspect (meaning 'once again') is used. This aspect can be easily recognised by the presence of the prefix 'náá-'. Note also the reappearance of the postposition '-ee' (in this case referring to the thing being repeated):
· Bee ánáádí'ní. = (you) Say it again.
· Bee ánáádoh'ní. = (you 2) Say it again.
· Bee ánáádadoh'ní. = (you pl) Say it again.
· Ákót'é! = That's it!, That's right!
Lesson 7
Yá'át'ééh!
Welcome back to another Navajo lesson, we are returning to verbs this time, specifically to the Perfective since last lesson we covered the first of the two Perfective conjugations, today we'll be covering the second and more complex perf. conjugation: the y-P.
The first subject prefix chart for the y-P applies when the S prefix is preceded by a disjunct prefix (remember 'disj. prefix' refers to the outer prefix and 'da' plural slots):
· 1Sg: VV
· 1Pl: iid
· 2Sg: Víní
· 2Pl: oo
· 3: VV
Wait, what's this V? V isn't even a letter in Navajo! Well whenever I use it it will refer to 'vowel' (the capital V means high tone, sadly there is no way for me to add an accent onto a 'v'), what this means is that the subject prefix is simply the last vowel of the disjunct prefix lengthened and with high tone (if it didn't already).
Example:
· yá + VV + ł + ti' --> yááłti' = 'I spoke' or 'He/she spoke'
The verb "to speak" takes the outer prefix 'yá'. This lengthened (no need to add high tone since it's already there) giving us 'yáá-' before the ł-classifier and the P-stem 'ti''.
· da + VV + cha --> dáácha = They cried
Here the 'da' is lengthened AND high tone is added.
· yá + Víní + ł + ti' --> yéíníłti' = You (sg) spoke
Here Rule-Disj 2 from an earlier lesson applies to turn the 'á' into an 'é', which then becomes the vowel in the Víní 2Sg y-P subject prefix.
Conjunct prefixes meanwhile always end in a consonant, so the chart for the y-P with ø/ł classifiers when preceded by a conjunct prefix (object and inner prefixes) is identical except the Vs are replaced with 'í' (íí, iid, ííní, oo, íí)
· jíícha = One cried
The 4th person 'j' is a conjunct prefix, therefore the above set of subject prefixes is used.
If there is nothing preceding the subject prefix, then the following chart is used with ø/ł classifiers:
· 1Sg: yí, 1Pl: yiid, 2Sg: yíní, 2Pl: woo, 3: yí
· woocha = You (2) cried
Note: when the 'da' distributive plural is used, switch to the s-P conjugation.
To demonstrate this, we'll use a new verb meaning "to dig it out". The I-stem is 'gééd' and the P-stem is 'geed'. It takes the ø-classifier and the 'ha' lexical prefix (which remember carries the meaning of 'out' or 'off'):
· háágééd = I dig it out (há + VV + geed)
· hadasiigeed = We dig it out (note the 's' from the s-P conj.)
These are all the charts for the y-P with ø/ł classifier. Note that they are all quite similar. You don't even really need to learn separate tables but can sum up their differences using basic rules. However the l/d classifiers use quite different subject prefixes:
When there is a preceding disjunct prefix:
· vvsh, iid, Víní, ooh, vv (note small 'v's here mean low tone)
To demonstrate, the verb "to dash up out/to run quickly out (of)" has I-stem 'taał' and P-stem 'táál', it takes l-classifier and the 'ha' outer prefix:
· ha + vvsh + l + táál --> haashtáál = I dashed up out (note 'sandwich rule' deletes the 'l' here)
When preceded by conjunct prefix:
· eesh, iid, ííní, ooh, oo
· ha + j + oo + l + táál --> hajooltáál = One dashed up out (remember 'j' is a conjunct prefix)
When there is no preceding prefix:
· yish, yiid, yíní, wooh, yi
New verb: "to drink it" - I-stem: dlą́, P-stem: dlą́ą́', classifier: d, lexical prefixes: none
· yínídlą́ą́' = You drank
· dayoodlą́ą́' = They drank
And with that we've finished the perfective (for now)! Next lesson will be about object prefixes and we'll be able to build our first sentences utilising conjugated verbs. Until then, Hágoónee'!
END
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