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Navajo Words and
Phrases
Navajo
Story
Navajo
North Amerindian/Athapaskan/Navajo
The Navajo are the largest American Indian
tribe in the US. Then number about 250,000, the majority living
in the vast reservations in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. They
are an offshoot of the Apache, who are believed to have migrated
from Canada to the American Southwest about 2,000 years ago. The
Navajo language, like the Apache, is of the Athapaskan family.
The Navajo language is vastly different in structure than most other world languages. Grammar is more focused and is extremely specific. For example, in English the sentence, "Joe walked out of his house.", we have no idea whose house he left. It could be Joe's house, or it could be his friend's house. Navajo leaves no doubt about whose house it was.
Navajo also has what is called Exclusive and Inclusive pronouns. For example, "We went to the store", in English is very vague. Navajo would specify "we, including the person being spoken to" or "we-the speaker, others but not you".
The Navajo name for themselves "Diné", means "The People".