-YĄ́

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ya"

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ɣʸanʸ (“to grow”). Possibly from the same source of the root -YĄĄD (“to be wise, experienced”). The meaning of this root refers either to physical maturity of humans or to an increment in size of plants and vegetation.

The initial consonant of the root is subjected to the following irregular phonetic alterations:

• In the theme ni + ∅ + -YĄ́ (“to grow up, mature, accumulate”, intransitive)

1. when preceded by the voiceless fricative -sh-, the marker of the first person singular, it surfaces as y (IPA: [j̝])

   e.g., nishyé (“I grow up”, imperfective), dínéeshyééł (“I will grow up”, future) and nóshyééł (“I would grow up”, optative)

2. in the first person duoplural, due to the d-effect, it is realized as g (IPA: [k])

   e.g., niigé (“we (two) grow up”, imperfective), díníigééł (“we (two) will grow up”, future) and noogééł (“we (two) would grow up”, optative)

• In the theme O + ni + ł + -YĄ́ (“to raise O, bring O up”, transitive)

1. it merges with the ł-classifier, producing s (IPA: [s])

   e.g., yinisé (“s/he raises him/her”, imperfective), yidínóosééł (“s/he will raise him/her”, future), yinósééł (“s/he would raise him/her”, optative)

2. it becomes z (IPA: [z]) after l (< d + ł-classifier, by d-effect), especially in passive themes (ni + l + -YĄ́, “to be raised, reared”, passive)

   e.g., nilzé (“it is raised”, passive of the preceding base, imperfective)

The momentaneous imperfective stem has two shapes, mainly -yééh and -yé. The latter, however, is identical to the conclusive imperfective stem of the same root.

Root

-YĄ́

1. to grow up, mature, grow in size, accumulate

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)	Passive bases (O + l)
ni + ∅ / ł	?	S grows up díníyééh (MOM) anisé bighánísé binídíníisééh (ná-, “back”) binánísé (ná-, “around”) chʼínísé dínísé / dínísééh hanisé / hanisééh niniisé niyé (CONCL) nooyééł (PROG) noosééł naniseʼ (CONT / DIV) ↳ bitaadaniseʼ	S raises O, brings O up — hainisé (MOM) ... yinisé (CONCL)	S is raised — — ... nilzé (+d simple pass.) bidiʼnilzé (+d agentive pass.)
∅	?	S collects, accumulates yiiyeeh (TRANS) ↳ iiyeeh

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-yééh / -yé	-yą́	-yééł	-yééh	-yééł
TRANS	-yeeh	-yeʼ	-yeeł	-yeeh	-yeeh
CONCL	-yé	-yą́	-yééł	-yééh	-yééł
CONT / DIV	-yeʼ	-yą́ / -yeʼ	-yeeł	-yeeh	-yeʼ

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

to grow, ripen:

• -TʼĄ́
• -ʼĄ́
• -JÉÉʼ
• -LĮ́Į́ʼ
• -TSʼĮĮD

to encrease in size or number:

• -TŁʼǪ́
• -ZHIIZH

to be fully grown:

• -TSAAZ

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -YĄ́ (grow)