díní-

See also: dini, diní, and dinî

Navajo

Etymology

Unknown. Probably the combination of various lexical or aspectual di- and ni- prefixes of disparate meanings ("oral", "noise", "color", "legs", inceptive, static, neuter...). The high tone is an especially striking feature of this prefix complex.

It seems that the two prefixes di- and ni- when combined together are prone to receiving a high tone, in a fashion similar to yíní-. Compare:

• imperfective nishdaah "I sit down"/ future dínéeshdaał "I will sit down", where the di- prefix of the future mode in contact with the lexical ni- prefix triggers a high tone.
• imperfective nishkaad "I drive them into it" / imperfective díníshkaad "I start to drive them along", where the inceptive di- triggers a high tone.

Young (2000) analyses díní- as a prolongative prefix complex, composed of inceptive di- and terminative ni-. He also proposes that the complex may originally derive from di- + yíní- (directive) in neuter perfective verbs (see below).

Prefix

díní- (position VIa-c)

1. slope, slant

díní- (position VIa)

1. relates to arms and legs
2. mouth, oral, noise

díní- (position VIc)

1. maintaining static

Conjugation

When the high tone is triggered, díní- requires a si-perfective, while low-tone dini- keeps a yi-perfective.

There are two active and two neuter paradigms, of disparate origins:

• The two active paradigms are totally regular, showing the expected contracted forms of ni- plus the si-perfective endings, except in the 2sg person of the second paradigm (-nííní- instead of -níní-, reminiscent of a yi-perfective prefix).
• The two neuter paradigms seem very irregular and should probably be better analyzed as ni-imperfectives in the 1st and 2nd persons, and si-perfectives in the 3rd, with a dí- and díí- prefix respectively.

SI-PERF	Active		Neuter
	díní-	hadíní-	díní-	díní- (dí-yíní-)
Example	dínéeskaad	hadínéeshcha	déesxéél	kʼídéesniiʼ
1sg	díné(sh)-	hadínésh-	dínísh-	dínísh-, díínísh-
2sg	díníní-	hadínííní-	díní-	dííní-
3	dínéez/s-	hadínées-	déez/s-
1dpl	dínée(d)-	hadínée(d)-	díníi(d)	dííníi(d)-
2dpl	dí(sí)noo(h)-	hadínóo(h)-	dínó(h)-	díínó(h)-

Derived terms

Navajo terms prefixed with díní-.