NAVAJO LANGUAGE Merilin Reisenbuk What is Navajo Language? Navajo is an Athabaskan (is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America) language spoken in the southwest United States by the Navajo people. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages. Orthography and pronunciation Consonants Vowels. Navajo has four basic vowel qualities: a, e, i and o. Each of these may occur either short or long. Tones. Navajo has two tones, low and high. - high, as in áá and éé - low, as in aa and ee Grammar The key element in Navajo is the verb. Every verb must have at least one prefix. Many concepts expressed using nouns in other languages appear as verbs in Navajo.
Navajo NAHvuhho Location Still living in their traditional territory Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado 17,5 million acres From low dry desert to mountains Tribes Navajo Nation has 300,048 tribal members 150,000 speak Navajo language (Athabaskan language) and others speak English Easy Word ''yi'it'eeh''(Yah-ah-t-ay) means hello `Ats'osi Dine' Feather People, Hasht['ishnii - Mud Clan, Kinyaa'1anii - Towering House People Beliefs Religion Christianity, Native American Church and traditional Navajo people(The Dines) belive that there is two classes of people: the Earth People and the Holy People Holy People taught the Dine how to live in harmony