Navajo grammar
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 he called particles. Navajo has no separate words that correspond to the adjectives in English grammar: verbs provide the adjectival functionality.
Verbs
The key element in Navajo is the verb. Verbs are composed of an abstract stem to which inflectional 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 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 that in turn make up the verb base. Finally, inflectional 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. Below is a table of a recent proposal of the Navajo verb template. Edward Sapir and Harry Hoijer were the first to propose an analysis of this type. A given verb does not have a prefix for every position. In fact, most Navajo verbs are not as complex as the template might 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.
The prefix complex may be subdivided into 11 positions, with some of the positions having even further subdivisions:
Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix ʼa- usually occurs before di-, as in
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
instead of the expected ʼadinisbąąs .
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 prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode. The prefixes are inflected according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes are listed in the table below:The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes occur in position 8 directly before the classifier prefixes. The fourth, indefinite, and "space" subject prefixes 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. 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 socially-distant individuals
An example paradigm for "to freeze" showing the subject prefixes:
Classifiers (transitivity prefixes)
The "" are prefixes of position 9 that affect the transitivity of the verb, in that they are valence and voice markers. Calling them "classifiers" is a misnomer, however, as they do not classify anything and are not related to the classificatory verb stems. There are four classifiers: -Ø-, -ł-, -d-, -l-. The -Ø- classifier is the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated by a null morpheme.The -ł- classifier is a causative-transitivizing prefix of active verbs. It often can transitivize an intransitive -Ø- verb: yibéézh "it's boiling", yiłbéézh "he's boiling it ; naʼniyęęsh "somethings flows about in a meandering fashion", naʼniłhęęsh "he's making it flow about in a meandering fashion".
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", yidéés "it's being singed".
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", náltsááh it's being dried".
Some verbs can occur with all four classifier prefixes:
- siʼą́ "roundish object lies in position"
- haatʼą́ "roundish object was taken up & out "
- séłʼą́ "I keep a roundish object in position"
- néshʼą́ "I have my head in position"
Modes, aspects and tenses
Navajo has a large number of aspectual, modal, and tense distinctions that are indicated by verb stem alternations often in combination with a range of prefixes. These are divided into seven "modes" and approximately twelve aspects and ten subaspects. 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
| Mode | Stem Form |
| Imperfective | -né |
| Perfective | -neʼ |
| Progressive/Future | -neeł |
| Usitative/Iterative | -neeh |
| Optative | -neʼ |
Imperfective
The imperfective indicates an event/action that has begun but remains incomplete. Although this mode does not refer to tense, it can usually be translated into English as a present tense form: yishááh "I'm going/coming", yishą́ "I'm eating ". With the addition 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: with a ni- terminative prefix in position 7 as in nishááh "I'm in the act of arriving", 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", with no prefix in position 7, usually identified as a Ø- prefix, as in yishcha "I'm crying", with either a yi- transitional or yi- semelfactive prefix in position 6.Perfective
The perfective indicates an event/action that has been completed. When referring to past situations, it usually corresponds to English simple past: yíyáʼ "I went/came/arrived", yíyą́ą́ʼ "I ate ". However, since the perfective mode is not a tense, it can be used to refer non-past actions, such as the future. The perfective mode has a distinct perfective stem form and four different prefix paradigms: with a yí- perfective prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in yíchʼid "I scratched it", with a ní- terminative prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in níyá "I arrived", with a sí- stative prefix with high tone in position 7 as in sélį́į́ʼ "I roasted it", with a yi- transitional prefix in position 6 as in yiizįʼ "I stood up".Progressive and future
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 ". The progressive mode has a yi- progressive prefix, the future has a di- inceptive prefix and the yi- progressive prefix.
Usitative
The usitative indicates a repetitive event/action that takes place customarily: yishááh "I usually go", yishdlį́į́h "I always drink ". 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 go outdoors in the morning", náshdlį́į́h "drink repeatedly" as in nínádiishʼnahgo gohwééh náshdlį́į́h "I drink coffee when I get up". The iterative is distinguished from the usitative by a ná- repetitive prefix and also sometimes by a -d- or -ł- classifier prefix.Optative
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 "don't look at me!". In certain adverbial frames, the optative indicates positive or negative potential.Aspects and subaspects
The Primary aspects:- Momentaneous - punctually
- 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
- Reversative - result in directional change
- Conative - attempted action
- Transitional - shift from one state to another
- Cursive - progression in a line through time/space
- 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
| 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 |
| 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.
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. Athabaskan linguistics identifies these as classificatory verb stems and usually identifies them with an acronym label. The eleven primary classificatory "handling" verb stems appear listed below :| 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. To say the equivalent of Give me some hay!, the Navajo verb níłjool must be used, while for Give me a cigarette! the verb nítįįh 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
Using an example for the SRO category, Navajo has
- -ʼą́ "to handle ",
- -neʼ "to throw ", and
- -l-tsʼid " moves independently".
yi-/bi- Alternation (animacy)
humans/lightning → infants/big animals → midsize 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 and 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.
But example sentence sounds wrong to most Navajo speakers because the less animate noun occurs before the more animate noun:
To express this idea requires that the more animate noun occur first, as in sentence :
Note that although sentence and are translated into English with a passive verb, in Navajo it is not passive. Passive verbs are formed by certain classifier 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.
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
Deverbal nouns are verbs that have been nominalized with a nominalizing enclitic or converted into a noun through zero derivation. An example of a nominalized verb is ' "clock", which is derived from the verb ' "it is moved slowly in a circle" and the enclitic nominalizer '. Another example is the deverbal noun ' "singer". Converted deverbal nouns include ' "exit, doorway" and ' "Phoenix, Arizona" — when used as verbs ' may be translated into English as "something has a path horizontally out" and ' as "place/space is hot". Deverbal nouns can potentially be long and complex, such as
which is composed of
- the nominalized noun ' "caterpillar tractor"
- the noun ' "cannon"
- the postposition ' "on it"
- the verb ' "they sit up"
- the nominalizer
Possession
Most of the time, these prefixes take a low tone, but in some nouns and postpositions, the final syllable of the prefix takes a high tone, such as shílaʼ "my hand," nihílaʼ "our/your hand."
The prefixes are also used when the possessor noun in a possessive phrase is a noun, as in Jáan bimá lit. "John his-mother," i.e., "John's mother."
Navajo marks inalienable possession for certain nouns — relatives, body parts, homes and dens. These nouns can only appear with a possessive prefix, as in shimá "my mother." If one wishes to speak of mothers in general, the 3rd person indefinite prefix ʼa- "someone's" is used, amá.
Postpositions
Navajo uses a number of postpositions where European languages tend to favor prepositions; thus, all spatial and most other relations such as under, on, or above are expressed by using the possessive prefix in combination with a postposition. All postpositions are inalienable, meaning that a prefix or fusion with a true noun is mandatory.Examples include biyaa, bikááʼ, and bitah. These can be combined with all prefixes to construct forms such as shiyaa. Occasionally, postpositions are fused with true nouns to form a single word, such as Dinétah.
Numerals
Navajo uses a decimal 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 ' to the base numerals 1-9. The numerals 20-100 are formed by adding a multiplicative "times 10" suffix ' to the base numerals 2-10.In the compound numerals, the combining forms of the base numerals have irregular vowel and consonants changes. The numeral "1" has three forms:
- '
- '
- '
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 dízdiin 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".
The base numerals with a high tone in the last syllable change to a falling tone before =di.
For the thousands, the word mííl 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.