Talk:naalnish

Etymology

Why do none of the roots of this term mean "work"? 71.66.97.228 17:38, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

The meaning is carried by the verb stem and lexical prefix. —Stephen ^(Talk) 18:02, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

I think some of what user 71 here is mentioning is the current habit in NV entries to only list the form of the verb stem as the term gloss, without actually giving any meaning information. For example, rather than just "-nish (“imperfective verb stem”)", it would be more useful to non-Navajo speakers to give something like "-nish (“imperfective verb stem: to work”)". I've just tweaked the entry to use this format. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 16:21, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

2nd person duoplural form

I've seen this in books as naołnish, but the table here gives naałnish. I'm familiar with the mechanics of the /-ao-/ changing to /-aa-/, but I am not familiar with how often this happens, or if it is specific to certain speakers or speech communities. Can anyone say more about that? -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 16:18, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Generally speaking, people to the west usually say naołnish, and in the east they usually say naałnish. I think naołnish is the older form. —Stephen ^(Talk) 16:52, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Very interesting, thank you Stephen. That sounds like it might be an important enough distinction to add to entries. Is this variation pretty common across all verbs, or does it show up in some verbs but not in others? -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 17:51, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

It’s a general rule for some people to mutate an /-ao-/ in a disjunct prefix to /-aa-/. It’s not an official rule of Navajo grammar, since lots of people don’t do it, but in the east, it is a common change. —Stephen ^(Talk) 06:10, 24 April 2012 (UTC)