The Navajo Language: The Elements of Navaho Grammar with a Dictionary in Two Parts Containing Basic Vocabularies of Navaho and English |
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The Navajo Language: The Elements of Navajo Grammar with a Dictionary in Two ... Robert W Young,William Morgan No preview available - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
1st person 3rd person ááł anaa become béésh béeso bi'di bi'dól bi'dool bidi'dool bik'i bił ch'il chidí dibé didii didooh díí diil dił diné díní díníil dínóoł dist dooh dooł doot enclitic forms given gááł ghoh ghoo ghooh ghool ghoot ghot góne hooghan horse jidoo jiní jół meaning is rendered náá nábi'dil náh nájí náł nání náníł náooh Navaho Navaho language ńdí ńdii ńdiil ńdóh ndooł néí néii néiil néíł nihi niil nił nisin nízhdí ńjí nooh nool noot noun nt'éé object óó paradigms plural postposition prefix prepounding Prog pronoun shił shit síní stem t'áá t'áadoo t'óó taah tsé tsin verb yázhí yidoo yiil yíní yish yół yóó zhdoo
Popular passages
Page 38 - ... leading to ultimate, unconscious psychological attitudes. Moreover, much of the friction between groups and between nations arises because in both the literal and the slangy senses they don't speak the same language. For the Navaho case, Robert Young and William Morgan have well put the basic problems: The pattern of Navaho thought and linguistic expression is totally unlike that of the European languages with which we are most commonly familiar. We learn such foreign languages as Spanish, French,...
Page ii - A) -represent the sound of ch in German ich, as well as that of h in English have. Ordinarily, both of the sounds are written h, but when h follows s it is necessary to distinguish the resulting sh sequence from the digraph sh. This is accomplished by substitution of x for the h. ... Actually there are two distinct sounds in Navaho ; one which is gutters! and harshly aspirated, and which would be technically represented by x ; the other being similar to English h, and which could be properly represented...
Page 126 - This seems on the whole well done in terms of the authors' objective, viz. "to meet the demands of White people who are interested in acquiring practical knowledge of the Navaho language; to aid native draftees in meeting the linguistic problems involved in their new environment; to aid school children in building up an adequate English vocabulary, as well as to use the component parts thereof correctly and effectively; and to help the White teacher teaching English in the reservation schools.
Page 40 - IMPERFECTIVE, indicating that the action is incomplete, but is in the act of being accomplished, or about to be done. PERFECTIVE, indicating that the action is complete. PROGRESSIVE, indicating that an action is in progress. ITERATIVE, denotes repetition of an act. USITATIVE, denotes habituality in performing the act. OPTATIVE, expresses potentiality and desire. MOMENT ANEOUS, action beginning and ending in an instant.
Page 55 - ... proper analysis of Navaho constructions, is nowhere systematically treated. As a result, Young and Morgan fall into a number of rather elementary errors of analysis, of which the following is a striking but in no way unusual example. On page 57 (of the Grammar) the authors state: "The [modal] prefix m'- is often a terminative in force, or it describes an act as completed and resulting in a static durative condition. It is quite possible that this prefix may be cognate with ni' the noun meaning...
Page 112 - Ravano children in terms which they can comprehend. The ideal would be to give all speeches to the interpreter beforehand, and require him to make a written translation at his leisure — or to teach English in terms of Navaho, but these ideals cannot always be achieved. It is quite obvious that the Navaho language is not a primitive tool, inadequate for human expression, but^g_well developed one, quite as capable of serving the Navaho people^is our language is of serving us.
Page 39 - he shot a rabbit," not "shot a he rabbit," although there is more liberty in altering the relative order of English words than in the case of the Navaho verb prefixes.
Page 38 - The Navaho verb, unlike the English, often contains within its structure not only the verbal idea, but also subject and object pronouns, and many adverbial modifiers. It is, in itself, a complete sentence. Actually, each of these elements is a monosyllable, each with its own signification. When these are placed together in a certain prescribed...
Page 39 - When these are placed together in a certain prescribed order, they serve to express a concrete thought, just as a number of blocks placed in the correct order serve to make a rectangle. Each monosyllabic prefix has its own position in the verb complex, and cannot exchange places with another without altering or nullifying the meaning. Thus, ha-si-s-'na...
Page 55 - The noun ni' itself is used as a terminative in such forms as ni' nishl\, I am stopped (ie static). Further examples are herewith given : dineeshdaal, I shall sit down (shall terminate act of sitting down and thereafter be in a static durative state), nishdaah, I am in the act of sitting down, neda, I have sat down.