Editing Navajo language (section)

== Grammar ==
{{Main|Navajo grammar}}

===Typology===
Navajo is difficult to classify in terms of broad [[morphological typology]]: it relies heavily on [[affix]]es—mainly prefixes—like [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] languages,<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|p=841}}</ref> but these affixes are joined in unpredictable, overlapping ways that make them difficult to segment, a trait of [[fusional language|fusional]] languages.<ref name="Mithun 323">{{Harvnb|Mithun|2001|p=323}}</ref> In general, Navajo verbs contain more morphemes than nouns do (on average, 11 for verbs compared to 4–5 for nouns), but noun morphology is less transparent.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bowerman|Levinson|2001|p=239}}</ref> Depending on the source, Navajo is either classified as a fusional,<ref name="Mithun 323"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Sloane|2001|p=442}}</ref> agglutinative, or even [[polysynthetic language|polysynthetic]] language, as it shows mechanisms from all three.<ref name="Johansen Ritzker 421">{{Harvnb|Johansen|Ritzker|2007|p=421}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Bowerman|Levinson|2001|p=238}}</ref>

In terms of basic [[word order]], Navajo has been classified as a [[subject–object–verb]] language.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wals.info/valuesets/81A-nav|publisher=WALS|access-date=September 1, 2014|title=Datapoint Navajo / Order of Subject, Object and Verb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826121256/http://wals.info/valuesets/81A-nav|archive-date=August 26, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Tomlin|first=Russell S.|title=Basic Word Order: Functional Principles|year=2014|journal=Routledge Library Editions Linguistics B: Grammar|page=115}}</ref> However, some speakers order the subject and object based on "noun ranking". In this system, nouns are ranked in three categories—humans, animals, and inanimate objects—and within these categories, nouns are ranked by strength, size, and intelligence. Whichever of the subject and object has a higher rank comes first. As a result, the agent of an action may be syntactically ambiguous.<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 902 903">{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|pp=902–903}}</ref> The highest rank position is held by humans and lightning.<ref>{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1987|pp=85–86}}</ref> Other linguists such as [[Eloise Jelinek]] consider Navajo to be a [[Non-configurational language|discourse configurational language]], in which word order is not fixed by syntactic rules, but determined by pragmatic factors in the communicative context.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fernald|Platero|2000|pp=252–287}}</ref>

===Verbs===
In Navajo, verbs are the main elements of their sentences, imparting a large amount of information. The verb is based on a [[stem (linguistics)|stem]], which is made of a [[root (linguistics)|root]] to identify the action and the semblance of a suffix to convey [[grammatical mood|mode]] and [[grammatical aspect|aspect]]; however, this suffix is fused beyond separability.<ref name="byu">

{{cite book |last1=Eddington |first1=David |last2=Lachler |first2=Jordan |chapter=A computational analysis of Navajo verb stems |chapter-url=https://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/deddingt/navajo.pdf |editor1-last=Rice |editor1-first=Sally |editor2-last=Newman |editor2-first=John |title=Empirical and Experimental Methods in Cognitive/functional Research |date=2010 |publisher=CSLI Publications/Center for the Study of Language and Information |isbn=978-1-57586-612-3 }}</ref> The stem is given somewhat more transparent prefixes to indicate, in this order, the following information: postpositional object, postposition, adverb-state, [[iterativity]], [[grammatical number|number]], [[direct object]], [[deictic]] information, another adverb-state, mode and aspect, subject, classifier (see later on), [[mirativity]] and two-tier [[evidentiality]]. Some of these prefixes may be null; for example, there is only a plural marker (''da/daa'') and no readily identifiable marker for the other grammatical numbers.<ref name="McDonough 2003 21 22"/>

Navajo does not distinguish strict [[grammatical tense|tense]] per se; instead, an action's position in time is conveyed through mode, aspect, but also via time adverbials or context. Each verb has an inherent aspect and can be conjugated in up to seven modes.<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 868">{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|p=868}}</ref>

For any verb, the usitative and iterative modes share the same stem, as do the progressive and future modes; these modes are distinguished with prefixes. However, pairs of modes other than these may also share the same stem,<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|p=18}}</ref> as illustrated in the following example, where the verb "to play" is conjugated into each of the five mode paradigms:

* Imperfective: ''-né'' – is playing, was playing, will be playing
* Perfective: ''-neʼ'' – played, had played, will have played
* Progressive/future: ''-neeł'' – is playing along / will play, will be playing
* Usitative/iterative: ''-neeh'' – usually plays, frequently plays, repeatedly plays
* Optative: ''-neʼ'' – would play, may play

The basic set of subject prefixes for the imperfective mode, as well as the actual conjugation of the verb into these person and number categories, are as follows.<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|pp=21–22}}</ref>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ <!-- caption here -->
!
! scope="col" | Singular
! scope="col" | Dual/plural
|-
! scope="row" | 1.
| ''sh-''
| ''iid-''
|-
! scope="row" | 2.
| ''ni-''
| ''oh-''
|-
! scope="row" | 3.
| colspan="2" | –
|-
! scope="row" | 4.
| colspan="2" | ''ji-''
|}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ <!-- caption -->
!
! scope="col" | Singular
! scope="col" | Dual/plural
|-
! scope="row" | 1.
| ''naa'''sh'''né'' – I am playing
| ''ne'''iiʼ'''né'' – We are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 2.
| ''na'''ni'''né'' – You (s.) are playing
| ''na'''oh'''né'' – You (pl.) are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 3.
| colspan="2" | ''{{wikt-lang|nv|naané}}'' – He/she/it is playing, they are playing
|-
! scope="row" | 4.
| colspan="2" | ''na'''ji'''né'' – He/she/it/one is playing, they/people are playing
|}
{{col-end}}

The remaining piece of these conjugated verbs—the prefix ''na-''—is called an "outer" or "disjunct" prefix. It is the marker of the Continuative aspect (to play about).<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|pp=12–13}}</ref>

Navajo distinguishes between the first, second, third, and fourth persons in the singular, dual, and plural numbers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Faltz|1998|p=21}}</ref> The fourth person is similar to the third person, but is generally used for indefinite, theoretical actors rather than defined ones.<ref name="harder">{{cite journal|title=On the use of the fourth person in Navajo, or Navajo made harder|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|last1=Akmajian|first1=Adrian|last2=Anderson|first2=Stephen|volume=36|number=1|date=January 1970|pages=1–8|doi=10.1086/465082|s2cid=143473426}}</ref> Despite the potential for extreme verb complexity, only the mode/aspect, subject, classifier, and stem are absolutely necessary.<ref name="McDonough 2003 21 22">{{Harvnb|McDonough|2003|pp=21–22}}</ref> Furthermore, Navajo negates clauses by surrounding the verb with the circum[[clitic]] ''doo= ... =da'' (e.g. ''mósí doo nitsaa da'' 'the cat is not big'). ''Dooda'', as a single word, corresponds to English ''no''.<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 882">{{Harvnb|Young|Morgan|1992|p=882}}</ref>

===Nouns===
Nouns are not required in order to form a complete Navajo sentence. Besides the extensive information that can be communicated with a verb, Navajo speakers may alternate between the third and fourth person to distinguish between two already specified actors, similarly to how speakers of languages with [[grammatical gender]] may repeatedly use pronouns.<ref name="Kozak 2013 161">{{Harvnb|Kozak|2013|p=161}}</ref>

Most nouns are not inflected for number,<ref name="Young Morgan 1992 882"/> and plurality is usually encoded directly in the verb through the use of various prefixes or aspects, though this is by no means mandatory. In the following example, the verb on the right is used with the plural prefix {{lang|nv|da-}} and switches to the distributive aspect.

Some verbal roots encode number in their lexical definition (see classificatory verbs above). When available, the use of the correct verbal root is mandatory:

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2
|Béégashii sitį́.
|cow 3.SUBJ-lie({{gcl|1|one subject}}).PERF
|'The (one) cow lies.'}}

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2
|Béégashii shitéézh.
|cow 3.SUBJ-lie({{gcl|2|two subjects}}).PERF
|'The (two) cows lie.'}}

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2
|Béégashii shijééʼ.
|cow 3.SUBJ-lie({{gcl|3+|three or more subjects}}).PERF
|'The (three or more) cows lie.'}}

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2 |glossing3=yes |italics2=yes
|Bilasáana shaa niʼaah.
|bilasáana sh-aa {{gcl|Ø|empty morpheme}}-ni-ʼaah
|apple 1-to 3.OBJ-2.SUBJ-give(SRO).MOM.PERF
|'You give me an apple.'}}

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2 |glossing3=yes |italics2=yes
|Bilasáana shaa ninííł.
|bilasáana sh-aa {{gcl|Ø|empty morpheme}}-ni-nííł
|apple 1-to 3.OBJ-2.SUBJ-give({{gcl|PLO1|plural object 1}}).MOM.PERF
|'You give me apples.'}}

Number marking on nouns occurs only for terms of kinship and age-sex groupings. Other prefixes that can be added to nouns include possessive markers (e.g., {{lang|nv|chidí}} {{gloss|car}} – {{lang|nv|shichidí}} {{gloss|my car}}) and a few adjectival enclitics. Generally, an upper limit for prefixes on a noun is about four or five.<ref name="Mueller 2008 12"/>

Nouns are also not marked for [[grammatical case|case]], this traditionally being covered by word order.<ref>{{Harvnb|Speas|1990|p=203}}</ref>

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2
|Atʼééd ashkii yiyiiłtsą́.
|girl boy 3.OBJ-3.SUBJ-saw
|'The girl saw the boy.'}}

{{interlinear |lang=nv |indent=2
|Ashkii atʼééd yiyiiłtsą́.
|boy girl 3.OBJ-3.SUBJ-saw
|'The boy saw the girl.'}}