Editing Navajo language (section)

==Vocabulary==
The vast majority of Navajo vocabulary is of Athabaskan origin.<ref name="Wurm 1996 1134"/> The number of lexical roots is still fairly small; one estimate counted 6,245 noun bases and 9,000 verb bases (with most nouns being derived from verbs), but those are combined with the numerous affixes in a myriad of ways so that words rarely consist of a single stem like English.<ref name="Mueller 2008 12">{{Harvnb|Mueller-Gathercole|2008|p=12}}</ref> Prior to the [[European colonization of the Americas]], Navajo did not borrow much from other languages, including from other Athabaskan and even [[Southern Athabaskan languages|Apachean]] languages. The Athabaskan family is fairly diverse in both [[phonology]] and [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] due to its languages' prolonged relative isolation.<ref name="Wurm 1996 1134">{{Harvnb|Wurm|Mühlhäusler|Tyron|1996|p=1134}}</ref> Even the [[Puebloan peoples|Pueblo peoples]], with whom the Navajo interacted with for centuries and borrowed cultural customs, have lent few words to the Navajo language. After Spain and Mexico took over Navajo lands, the language did not incorporate many [[Spanish language|Spanish]] words, either.<ref name="Kroskrity Field 2009 39">{{Harvnb|Kroskrity|Field|2009|p=39}}</ref>

This resistance to word absorption extended to English, at least until the mid-twentieth century. Around this point, the Navajo language began importing some, though still not many, English words, mainly by young schoolchildren exposed to English.<ref name="Kroskrity Field 2009 38">{{Harvnb|Kroskrity|Field|2009|p=38}}</ref>

Navajo has expanded its vocabulary to include Western technological and cultural terms through [[calque]]s and Navajo descriptive terms. For example, the phrase for English ''[[tank]]'' is {{wikt-lang|nv|chidí naaʼnaʼí beeʼeldǫǫhtsoh bikááʼ dah naaznilígíí}} 'vehicle that crawls around, by means of which big explosions are made, and that one sits on at an elevation'. This [[language purism]] also extends to proper nouns,{{Citation needed|date=November 2022|reason=The way it's currently written hints that it's systematic. It may be true, but a citation is needed.}} such as the names of U.S. states (e.g. ''Hoozdo'' 'Arizona' and ''Yootó'' 'New Mexico'; see also ''hahoodzo'' 'state') and languages (''naakaii'' 'Spanish').

Only one Navajo word has been fully absorbed into the English language: ''[[hogan]]'' (from Navajo ''hooghan'') – a term referring to the traditional houses.<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hogan&allowed_in_frame=0|dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=August 6, 2014|last=Harper|first=Douglas|title=hogan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811164422/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hogan&allowed_in_frame=0|archive-date=August 11, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Another word with limited English recognition is ''[[chindi]]'' (an evil spirit of the deceased).<ref>{{Harvnb|Cutler|2000|p=165}}</ref> The [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] [[genus]] name ''[[Side-blotched lizard|Uta]]'' may be of Navajo origin.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cutler|2000|p=211}}</ref> It has been speculated that English-speaking settlers were reluctant to take on more Navajo loanwords compared to [[List of English words from indigenous languages of the Americas|many other Native American languages]], including the [[Hopi language]], because the Navajo were among the most violent resisters to colonialism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cutler|2000|p=110}}</ref>