Navajo is a "verb-heavy" language – it has a great preponderance of verbs but relatively few nouns. In addition to verbs and nouns, Navajo has other elements such as pronouns, clitics of various functions, demonstratives, numerals, postpositions, adverbs, and conjunctions, among others. Harry Hoijer grouped all of the above into a word-class he called particles (i.e., Navajo would then have verbs, nouns, and particles). Navajo has no words that would correspond to adjectives in English grammar: verbs provide the adjectival functionality.
Verbs The key element in Navajo is the verb. Verbs are composed of an abstract stem to which inflectional or derivational prefixes are added. Every verb must have at least one prefix. The prefixes are affixed to the verb in a specified order.
The Navajo verb can be sectioned into different components. The verb stem is composed of an abstract root and an often fused suffix. The stem together with a "classifier" prefix (and sometimes other thematic prefixes) make up the verb theme. The thematic prefixes are prefixes that are non-productive, have limited derivational function, and no longer have a clearly defined meaning. Examples of thematic prefixes include the archaic prefix, which only occurs on the verb stem meaning "to talk" as in "he's talking". The theme is then combined with derivational prefixes that in turn make up the verb base. Finally, inflectional prefixes (which Young & Morgan call "paradigmatic prefixes") are affixed to the base – producing a complete Navajo verb.
Verb template The prefixes that occur on a Navajo verb are added in specified more or less rigid order according to prefix type. This type of morphology is called a position class template (or slot-and-filler template). Below is a table of a recent proposal of the Navajo verb template (Young & Morgan 1987). A given verb does not have a prefix for every position. In fact, most Navajo verbs are not as complex as the template might suggest: the maximum number of prefixes is around eight.
The Navajo verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. Two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior.
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;" |- | Disjunct prefixes | Conjunct prefixes | Stem
The prefix complex may be subdivided into 11 positions, with some of the positions having even further subdivisions:
Disjunct prefixes Conjunct prefixes Stem 0 1a 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 postpositionobject "nullpostposition" adverbial-thematic iterative plural direct object deictic adverbial-thematic mode-aspect subject classifier stem
Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before , as in:
[ ← ] "I'm starting to drive some kind of wheeled vehicle along"
However, when occurs with the prefixes and , the metathesizes with , leading to an order of , as in:
[ ← ] "I'm in the act of driving some vehicle (into something) & getting stuck"
instead of the expected * () ( is reduced to ).
Although the verb template model of analysis has been traditionally used to describe the Navajo verb, other analyses have been proposed by Athabascanists.
Pronominal inflection
Navajo verbs have pronominal (i.e. pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See Modes section below for a discussion of modes). The prefixes are inflected according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes (and their abbreviations as used by Young & Morgan) are listed in the table below:
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;" ! rowspan="2" | Number !! colspan="2" | Subject prefixes !! colspan="2" | Object prefixes |- ! Singular !! Dual-plural !! Singular !! Dual-plural |- ! First (1) | -sh- || -Vd- || shi- || rowspan="2" | nihi- |- ! Second (2) | ni- || -oh- || ni- |- ! Third (3) | colspan="2" rowspan="2" | -∅- || colspan="2" | bi- |- ! Third (3o) | colspan="2" | yi- |- ! Fourth (3a) | colspan="2" | ji- || colspan="2" | ha- ~ ho- |- ! Indefinite (3i) | colspan="2" | ʼa- || colspan="2" | ʼa- |- ! Space (3s) | colspan="2" | ha- ~ ho- || colspan="2" | ha- ~ ho- |- ! Reflexive | colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | (ʼá)-di- |- ! Reciprocal | colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | ʼahi-
The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes (-sh-, -Vd-, ni-, -oh-) occur in position 8 directly before the classifier prefixes. The fourth, indefinite, and "space" subject prefixes (ji-, ʼa-, ha-~ho-) are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 5. The third person subject is marked by the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated with a zero prefix -∅- in position 8. The object prefixes can occur in position 4 as direct objects, in position 1a as "null postpositions", or in position 0 as the object of postpositions that have been incorporated into the verb complex.
The fourth person subject prefix ji- is a kind of obviative third person. It refers primarily to persons or personified animals (unlike the regular third person). It has a number of uses including:
referring to the main character in narratives distinguishing between two third person referents referring politely or impersonally to certain socially-distant individuals (e.g. when speaking to opposite-sex siblings and relatives through marriage, giving admonitions, speaking of the dead)
When used as an impersonal, it may be translated into English as "one" as in "one can cut one's hand playing with knives". The "space" prefix can be translated as "area, place, space, impersonal it" as in "the area/place is white" and "it is raining". The prefix has two forms: and with having derived forms such as and .
An example paradigm for "to freeze" (imperfective mode) showing the subject prefixes:
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:left; white-space:nowrap;" ! ! colspan="2" | Singular ! colspan="2" | Dual-plural |- ! First | | "I freeze" | | "we (2+) freeze" |- ! Second | | "you freeze" | | "you (2+) freeze" |- ! Third | colspan="4" style="text-align:center" | "he/she/it/they freeze" |- ! Fourth (3a) | colspan="4" style="text-align:center" | "he/she/they freeze" |- ! Indefinite (3i) | colspan="4" style="text-align:center" | "someone/something freezes"
Classifiers (transitivity prefixes) The "classifiers" are prefixes of position 9 (the closest to the verb stem) that affect the transitivity of the verb, in that they are valence and voice markers. Calling them "classifiers" is a misnomer, however, as they do not classify anything and are not related to the classificatory verb stems (which actually do classify nouns; see classificatory verbs below). There are four classifiers:
Classifier Description Example The -∅- classifier is the absence of a prefix, which is usually indicated by a null morpheme. The classifier is a causative-transitivizing prefix of active verbs. It often can transitivize an intransitive -∅- verb. The classifier occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a -∅- classifier. The occurs in most passive, mediopassive, reflexive, and reciprocal verbs that are derived from verbs with a classifier.
Some verbs can occur with all four classifier prefixes: "it (a roundish object) lies in position" () "it (a roundish object) was taken up & out (i.e. extracted)" () "I keep a roundish object in position" () "I have my head in position" ()
In other verbs, the classifiers do not mark transitivity and are considered thematic prefixes that simply are required to occur with certain verb stems.
Modes, aspects and tenses
Navajo has a large number of aspectual, modal, and tense distinctions that are indicated by verb stem alternations (involving vowel and tonal ablaut and suffixation) often in combination with a range of prefixes. These are divided into seven "modes" and approximately twelve aspects and ten subaspects. (Although the term mode is traditionally used, most of the distinctions provided by the modes are in fact aspectual.) Each Navajo verb generally can occur in a number of mode and aspect category combinations.
Modes Navajo has the following verb modes:
Imperfective – an incomplete action; can be used in past, present, or future time frames Perfective – a complete action; usually signifying the past tense but also applied to future states (e.g. "he will have gone") Progressive – ongoing action; unlike the imperfective, the focus is more on the progression across space or time than incompleteness Future – a prospective action, analogous to the future tense Usitative – a usual or typical action Iterative – a recurrent or repetitive action; often used interchangeably with the usitative Optative – a potential or desired action, similar to the subjunctive mood of Indo-European languages
The modes above may have up to five distinct verb stem forms. The progressive and future modes share the same stem form as do the usitative and iterative modes. The optative mode usually has the same verb stem as the imperfective mode, although for some verbs the stem forms differ (in the example "to play, tease" below, the perfective and the optative stems are the same). For example, the verb meaning "to play, tease" has the following five stem forms for the seven modes:
Mode Stem form Imperfective Perfective Progressive/Future Usitative/Iterative Optative
Imperfective The imperfective indicates an event/action that has begun but remains incomplete. Although this mode does not refer to tense, it can usually be translated into English as a present tense form: "I'm (in the act of) going/coming", "I'm (in the act of) eating (something)". With the addition of adverbials, the imperfective can be used for events/actions in the past, present, or future. The mode is used in the second person for immediate imperatives. The imperfective mode has a distinct imperfective stem form and four different mode-aspect prefix paradigms:
with a terminative prefix in position 7 as in "I'm in the act of arriving." with a stative prefix in position 7 as in "I'm in the act of placing a SRO (solid roundish object)" in "I'm in the act of placing a SRO (solid roundish object) up" (dah "up"). with no prefix in position 7, usually identified as a prefix, as in "I'm crying." with either a transitional or semelfactive prefix in position 6 (and no prefix in position 7).
Perfective The perfective indicates an event/action that has been completed. When referring to past situations, it usually corresponds to English simple past: "I went/came/arrived", "I ate (something)". However, since the perfective mode is not a tense, it can be used to refer non-past actions, such as the future (where it may be translated as English "will have" + VERB). The perfective mode has a distinct perfective stem form and four different prefix paradigms:
with a perfective prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in "I scratched it." with a terminative prefix with a high tone in position 7 as in "I arrived." with a stative prefix with high tone in position 7 as in "I roasted it." with a transitional prefix in position 6 (and in position 7) as in "I stood up."
Progressive and future The progressive indicates an incomplete event/action that is ongoing without reference to the beginning or end of the event/action. This mode may be translated into English as BE + VERB-ing + "along": "I'm going/walking along", "I'm carrying it along".