NameSection8.12 Pragmatics: Navajo
Some of the following Navajo sentences are acceptable; others (marked with #)
are judged by native speakers to be pragmatically unacceptable. In list I both
sentences in each pair are acceptable; in lists I1 and I11 one sentence in each pair
is acceptable and the other is pragmatically odd. Study the sentence pairs in the
three lists, and answer the question at the end of the exercise.
There are two differences between the sentences in each pair: a word order
change between the first two words (nouns) and a morphological change in the last
word (the verb). When the verb begins with y- (more precisely, yi-), the first noun
is the subject. When the verb begins with bi-, the second noun is the subject. The
pairs of Navajo sentences have been translated into active and passive forms in
English, although the sentences translated as English passives are not really passive
sentences in Navajo. However, understanding the exact nature of this structural
type in Navajo is not important for completing the exercise.
Not all transitive sentences in Navajo have acceptable pairs with the prefixes yi-
and bi-. In list I1 the bi- form yields a pragmatic oddity; in list I11 the yi- form is
pragmatically unacceptable.
We have not provided interlinear glosses in lists I1 and 111, since you will know
enough about Navajo syntax from studying list I to figure out the meaning of the
Navajo words from the English translations.List I
Navajo sentence
L' dzaanCCz yiztal.
horse mule kicked
DzaantCz l$ biztal.
TYizi dibe yizgoh.
goat sheep butted
Dibe tl'izi bizgoh.
Ashkii at'kCd yiztsY~s.
boy girl kissed
At'%d ashkii bizts'~s.
LCCchgg'i masi yishxash.
dog cat bit
Masi lCtchggYi bishxash.English gloss
"The horse kicked the mule.""The mule was kicked by the horse."
"The goat butted the sheep.""The sheep was butted by the goat."
"The boy kissed the girl.""The girl was kissed by the boy."
"The dog bit the cat.""The cat was bitten by the dog."