Today's question:
Is it true the Navajo language is unrelated to any other
Native American language?
No. Where did you get that idea?
Navajo is part of the Athabaskan family of languages, although
modern linguists sometimes call them Na-Dene languages.
Specifically, Navajo is part of a subset of Athabaskan called
Apachean languages. The other two tongues in that subset are
called Eastern and Western Apache.
Athabaskan languages probably arose in northwestern Canada and
southern Alaska. Various members of the family were spoken along
the Pacific Coast and in some Plains tribes.
The idea that Athabaskan is a northern thing is in keeping with
theories that the ancestors of the Navajos in the Southwest
migrated south from Canada or Alaska over a long period of time
and arrived in what is now Arizona and New Mexico around 1300.
However, Navajo beliefs tell us that the people emerged into the
world in the Southwest.
The Navajo language is considered to be one of the most
difficult to learn, unless, of course, you grow up hearing it.
The sentence structures, grammar, verbs - just about everything
- make the language extremely hard for a non-Navajo to master.
That's why the Japanese never could figure out the Navajo Code
Talkers during World War II.
While the Navajos speak an Athabaskan language, the language of
their neighbors, the Hopis, is part of the Uto-Aztecan family of
languages.
Uto-Aztecan languages probably arose in the Southwest or
northern Mexico, and are one of the largest groups of tongues in
the Americas. They are spoken from Oregon and Idaho deep into
Mexico. Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, also was an
Uto-Aztecan language.
The Hopis have been in the Four Corners area for at least 1,000
years. They seem to be the descendants of the people the Navajos
called Anasazi, meaning "ancient enemies."
The Hopis prefer the word Hisatsinom, which means
"ancient ones."
Do you have a question about Arizona history? Reach Thompson
at
clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8612.