Speech play and language ideologies in Navajo terminology development

Abstract

In this article we combine a concern with speech play and language ideologies to investigate contemporary Navajo terminology development. This article presents some recent cases of lexical elaboration in context, and argues that neologisms in Navajo are often fleeting, shifting, or humorous practices that reflect and recreate individual agency, intimate grammars, and local language ideologies. They also reflect an unexpected continuity in what is considered to be a context of rapid language shift. Such practices are one form of resistance to English and should be seen as a sociocultural, rather than purely referential, phenomenon.

The poetry of sound and the sound of poetry: Navajo poetry, phonological iconicity, and linguistic relativity

“…The imaginative possibilities evoked, provoked, and convoked through sound in Navajo language poetry are lost in the English language translations. Leavitt (2011: 210) has called for a Neo-Boasian linguistics -or, perhaps, a Neo-Boasian linguistic anthropology and here I would certainly place my work in that category -that tries to understand -among other things -"the motivating phenomena of language love... and delight in language(s)" -what I have elsewhere investigated under the terms intimate grammars and mischievous grammars (see Webster 2010b;Webster 2015;Peterson and Webster 2013). As one way of pursuing a Neo-Boasian linguistic anthropology concerned with linguistic relativity, Leavitt (2011: 210) goes on to note that, "sound patterning certainly has effects on feelings, if not directly ideation, effects that are heightened and valorized in poetic language."…”

“…Like sacred mountains, the Navajo language is part of a larger category of diné bá niilyáii 'things that were created/placed down for the Navajo.' In this view, the Navajo language is a "living language" or saad niilyá to be treated with respect (see Peterson and Webster 2013). "Poems," as Jim explained to me, "grow just like people and in that situation the language becomes a way to explore, to discover, to create, to celebrate, and ultimately to live."…”

Dif’ G’one’and Semiotic Calquing A Signography of the Linguistic Landscape of the Navajo Nation

“…As far as I know, no outraged letters to the editor have been published in the Navajo Times (the paper of record for most Navajos) about D if' G 'one'. As I have noted elsewhere (Webster 2013), some Navajos enjoy pointing out what they perceive to be "misspellings" on various Navajo-language public signs on and around the Navajo Nation. Sometimes the "misspellings" amount to writing hdzhd instead of hozhQ (beauty, harmony, order).…”

“…Rough numbers, then, give an impression that the Navajo language is widely spoken (in fact, it is spoken in every state in the U.S.) by a significant number of speakers. However, as Navajo scholars such as Tiffany Lee (2007) and AnCita Benally (Benally and Viri 2005) point out, the Navajo language is a threatened language (see also Spolsky 2002) in the sense that young Navajos are not learning the language at a rate that will ensure the continued use of the language (see also Peterson and Webster 2013). Heteroglossia continues to be the norm on the Reservation, including English, Navajo, Navajo English, and Navalish (Peterson and Webster 2013;Webster 2010b).…”

“A Line Will Take Us Hours Maybe:”Craft and Inspiration from the Ethnography of Poetry

“…Like sacred mountains, the Navajo language is part of a larger category of diné bá niilyáii 'things that were created/placed down for the Navajo.' In this view, the Navajo language is a "living language" or saad niilyá to be treated with respect (see Peterson and Webster, 2013). What seems interesting here is that for some Navajo poets, while there is inspiration and creativity, they are not wholly autonomous or original.…”