The Navajo Language
The Navajo Language August 27, 2020 13:31
We will have a look at the history of the written Navajo language, from its earliest beginnings in the 1880ies developing into the modern writing system we use now. We will provide many resources, helpful for the teachers and students of the still strongest indigenous language in the United States. These resources will help you decipher an enormous and rich body of Navajo oral literature, transcribed between the 1880s and the 1980s. Nothing of this depth or breadth could be gathered now, nor would it reflect the same authenticity of the language and traditional life style as the literature we are editing and republishing from that time span. It is up to you, the Navajo Culture/Language teacher to put that big body of transcribed literature to use.
Native Child Dinétah is reprinting and creating new editions of important, historical writings to help preserve and continue Navajo culture, language, and history. We focus on generally difficult–to–access literature of enormous importance to the transmission of cultural knowledge from generation to generation.
Our latest addition to this project is: The Navajo Text, collected by Pliny Earle Goddard and edited by Gladys Reichard. To be able to read this publication, it is helpful to use the Phonetic Transcript of Indian Languages from 1916, published by the Smithsonian Institution. This is the alphbet that Goddard used in the publication.