pronounced as /notice/This article is about the sound system of the Navajo language. The phonology of Navajo is intimately connected to its morphology. For example, the entire range of contrastive consonants is found only at the beginning of word stems. In stem-final position and in prefixes, the number of contrasts is drastically reduced. Similarly, vowel contrasts (including their prosodic combinatory possibilities) found outside of the stem are significantly neutralized. For details about the morphology of Navajo, see Navajo grammar.
Like most Athabaskan languages, Navajo is coronal heavy, having many phonological contrasts at coronal places of articulation and less at other places. Also typical of the family, Navajo has a limited number of labial sounds, both in terms of its phonemic inventory and in their occurrence in actual lexical items and displays of consonant harmony.
The consonant phonemes of Navajo are listed below.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lateral | affricate | plain | lab. | ||||||
| Nasal | plain | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
| glottalized | (pronounced as /ink/) | (pronounced as /ink/) | ||||||||
| Stop | unaspirated | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Continuant | fortis | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| lenis | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Glide | plain | |||||||||
| glottalized | (pronounced as /ink/) | (pronounced as /ink/) | ||||||||
All consonants are long, compared to English: with plain stops the hold is longer, with aspirated stops the aspiration is longer, and with affricates the frication is longer. The voice onset time of the aspirated and ejective stops is twice as long as that found in most non-Athabaskan languages. described Navajo consonants as "doubled" between vowels, but in fact they are equally long in all positions.
The aspirated stops pronounced as //tʰ, kʰ// (orthographic,) are typically aspirated with velar frication pronounced as /[tx, kx]/ (they are phonetically affricates – homorganic in the case of pronounced as /[kx]/, heterorganic in the case of pronounced as /[tx]/).[1] The velar aspiration is also found on a labialized velar pronounced as /[kxʷ]/ (orthographic). There is variation within Navajo, however, in this respect: some dialects lack strong velar frication, having instead a period of aspiration.[2] [3]
Similarly, the unaspirated velar pronounced as //k// (orthographic) is realized with optional voiced velar frication following the stop burst: pronounced as /[k] ~ [kɣ]/. The unaspirated lateral pronounced as //tɬ// (orthographic) typically has a voiced lateral release, pronounced as /[tˡ]/, of a duration comparable to the release of the pronounced as //k// and much shorter than the unaspirated fricatives pronounced as //ts/, /tʃ//. However, the aspirated and ejective laterals are true affricates.
While the aspiration of stops is markedly long compared to most other languages, the aspiration of the affricates is quite short: the main feature distinguishing pronounced as //ts/, /tʃ// from pronounced as //tsʰ/, /tʃʰ// is that the frication is half again as long in the latter: pronounced as /[tsˑʰ], [tʃʰˑ]/. pronounced as //tɬʰ// is similarly long, pronounced as /[tɬˑʰ]/. The ejectives pronounced as //tsʼ/, /tɬʼ/, /tʃʼ//, on the other hand, have short frication, presumably due to the lack of pulmonic airflow. There is a period of near silence before the glottalized onset of the vowel. In pronounced as //tɬʼ// there may be a double glottal release, or a creaky onset to the vowel not found in the other ejective affricates.
Navajo also does not have consistent phonetic voicing in the "voiced" continuant members. Although pronounced as //z, l, ʒ, ɣ// are described as voiced in impressionist descriptions,[4] data from spectrograms shows that they may be partially devoiced during the constriction. In stem-initial position, pronounced as //l// tends to be fully voiced, pronounced as //ʒ// has a slight tendency to be voiceless near the offset, pronounced as //z// is often mostly voiceless with phonetic voicing only at the onset, pronounced as //ɣ// is also only partially voiced with voicing at onset. A more consistent acoustic correlate of the "voicing" is the duration of the consonant: "voiceless" consonants have longer durations than "voiced" consonants. Based on this, argues that the distinction is better captured with the notion of a fortis/lenis contrast. A further characteristic of voicing in Navajo is that it is marginally contrastive (see the voicing assimilation section).
Navajo lacks a clear distinction between phonetic fricatives and approximants. Although the pair pronounced as /[ɬ]/~pronounced as /[l]/ has been described as a fricative and an approximant, respectively, the lack of a consistent contrast between the two phonetic categories and a similar patterning with other fricative pairs suggests that they are better described as continuants. Additionally, observations have been made about the less fricative-like nature of pronounced as /[ɣ, ɣʷ]/ and the more fricative-like nature of pronounced as /[j]/.
The glottalized sonorants are the result of d-effect on the non-glottalized counterparts. A strict structuralist analysis, such as that of and, considers them phonemic.
The phonological contrast between the velar obstruent pronounced as //ɣ// and the palatal glide pronounced as //j// is neutralized in certain contexts. However, in these contexts, they may often be distinguished from each other by their different phonological patterning.
Before the rounded pronounced as //o//, pronounced as //ɣ// is phonetically strongly labialized as pronounced as /[ɣʷ]/; elsewhere, it lacks the labialization. As noted above, the lenis continuants like pronounced as //ɣ// are often very weak fricatives somewhere between a typical fricative constriction (e.g. pronounced as /[ɣ]/) and a more open approximant constriction (e.g. pronounced as /[ɰ]/) – this will be symbolized here as pronounced as /[ɰ̝]/. describes the pronounced as /[ɰ̝ʷ]/ realization as being similar to English pronounced as /[w]/ but differing in having slight frication at the beginning of the articulation. The realization before pronounced as //a// varies between an approximant pronounced as /[ɰ]/ and a weakly fricated approximant pronounced as /[ɰ̝]/.[6] The following verb stem[7] has different velar allophones of the stem-initial consonant:
| Word | Underlying | Phonetic | ! Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //ɣàʃ// | pronounced as /[ɰ̝àʃ]/ | 'make bubbling noise' (iterative, continuative) | ||
| pronounced as //ɣòʃ// | pronounced as /[ɰ̝ʷòʃ]/ | 'make bubbling noise' (iterative, repetitive) |
The palatal glide pronounced as //j// is also phonetically between an approximant pronounced as /[j]/ and a fricative pronounced as /[ʝ]/. compares it to English pronounced as /[j]/ with a "slight but audible 'rubbiness' or frication."
The contrast between velar pronounced as //ɣ// and palatal pronounced as //j// is found before both back vowels pronounced as //a, o// as the following contrasts demonstrate:
| Word | Underlying | Phonetic | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| contrast before pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //pìɣàːʔ// | pronounced as /[pɪ̀ɰ̝àːʔ]/ | 'its fur' | |
| pronounced as //pìjàːʔ// | pronounced as /[pɪ̀j˔àːʔ]/ | 'its lice' | ||
| contrast before pronounced as //o// | pronounced as //pìɣòl// | pronounced as /[pɪ̀ɰ̝ʷòl]/ | 'its marrow' | |
| pronounced as //pìjòl// | pronounced as /[pɪ̀j˔òl]/ | 'its breath' | ||
Before the front vowels pronounced as //i, e//, however, the contrast between pronounced as //ɣ// and pronounced as //j// is neutralized to a palatal articulation much like the weakly fricative pronounced as /[j˔]/ realization of pronounced as //j// that occurs before back vowels. However, the underlying consonant can be ascertained in verb stems and noun stems via their different realizations in a voiceless (i.e. fortis) context. The underlying velar surfaces as a voiceless palatal fricative pronounced as /[ç]/ in these environments:
| Fortis context | Lenis context | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | Phonetic | Gloss | Word | Phonetic | Gloss | |
| pronounced as /[çéːɬ]/ | 'bundle' | pronounced as /[pɪ̀j˔éːl]/ | 'her bundle' | |||
| pronounced as /[j˔ɪ̀ʃçɪ̀ʒ]/ | 'I pick (corn)' | pronounced as /[j˔ɪ̀j˔ɪ̀ʒ]/ | 'she picks (corn)' | |||
The stem-initial velar of the noun stem pronounced as //xéːɬ// has a voiceless fortis realization of pronounced as /[ç]/ (as pronounced as /[çéːɬ]/) when word-initial. When intervocalic, it is realized as lenis pronounced as /[j˔]/ (as pronounced as /[-j˔éːl]/). Likewise, the underlying velar of the verb stem pronounced as //xɪ̀ʒ// is a voiceless pronounced as /[ç]/ after the preceding voiceless pronounced as /[ʃ]/ and lenis pronounced as /[j˔]/ when intervocalic. Thus, the alternation of pronounced as /[ç ~ j˔]/ in the two contexts is indicative of an underlying velar consonant. Similarly, before the back vowels, the velar continuant has the alternations pronounced as /[x ~ ɰ̝]/ and pronounced as /[xʷ ~ ɰ̝ʷ]/, as shown in the examples below:
| Fortis context | Lenis context | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | Phonetic | Gloss | Word | Phonetic | Gloss | ||
| before pronounced as //a// | pronounced as /[hànɪ́ɬxáːʃ]/ | 'you make it boil' | pronounced as /[hànɪ́lɰ̝áːʃ]/ | 'it comes to a boil' | |||
| before pronounced as //o// | pronounced as /[ʔàɬxʷòʃ]/ | 'he's sleeping' | pronounced as /[ʔáhòtɪ̀lɰ̝ʷòʃ]/ | 'he's pretending to be asleep' | |||
An underlying palatal pronounced as //j// can be determined by alternations which differ from the velar alternations. However, pronounced as //j// has two different alternation patterns, which have led to the positing of two distinct phonemes. Incidentally, the two different phonemes are also connected to two different reconstructed consonants in Proto-Athabascan. One of these pronounced as //j// phonemes is considered an obstruent as it has a fricative realization of pronounced as /[s]/ in fortis contexts. It is often symbolized as a palatalized (or front velar) fricative (in Americanist phonetic notation) and is a reflex of Proto-Athabascan . It may be considered coronal because of its coronal voiceless allophone.
| Fortis context | Lenis context | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | Phonetic | Gloss | Word | Phonetic | Gloss | ||
| before pronounced as //i// | pronounced as /[sɪ̀n]/ | 'song' | pronounced as /[pɪ̀j˔ìːn]/ | 'her song' | |||
| before pronounced as //a// | pronounced as /[hònɪ̀sːã́]/ | 'I'm wise' | pronounced as /[hój˔ã́]/ | 'she's wise' | |||
| before pronounced as //o// | pronounced as /[hànɪ̀sːóːt]/ | 'I drive them out' | pronounced as /[hàɪ̀nɪ̀j˔óːt]/ | 'she drives them out' | |||
In the above examples, the fortis realization is pronounced as /[s]/ in the stems pronounced as /[sɪ̀n]/, pronounced as /[-sã́]/, pronounced as /[-sóːt]/, while the lenis realization is the glide pronounced as /[j˔]/ in the corresponding pronounced as /[-j˔ɪ̀n]/, pronounced as /[-j˔ã́]/, pronounced as /[-j˔óːt]/. Since the fortis reflex of this phoneme is pronounced as /[s]/, there is also a neutralization between this pronounced as //j// phoneme and the alveolar pronounced as //s// phoneme. The alveolar phoneme has a pronounced as /[s ~ z]/ alternation in fortis-lenis contexts:
Thus, the different alternations also distinguish between underlying pronounced as //j// and underlying pronounced as //s//.
The other underlying (or morphophonemic) palatal pronounced as //j// is considered a sonorant and has an invariant pronounced as /[j˔]/ realization in both fortis (voiceless) and lenis (voiced) contexts. This phoneme is relatively rare, occurring in only a few morphemes. It is a reflex of Proto-Athabascan (as symbolized in Americanist notation). Two examples are below:
| Fortis context | Lenis context | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word | Phonetic | Gloss | Word | Phonetic | Gloss | ||
| before pronounced as //a// | pronounced as /[j˔àːʔ]/ | 'louse' | pronounced as /[ʃɪ̀j˔àʔ]/ | 'my louse' | |||
| before pronounced as //o// | pronounced as /[hònɪ̀ʃj˔óɪ́]/ | 'I'm energetic' | pronounced as /[hònɪ́j˔óɪ́]/ | 'you're energetic' | |||
A further distinction between the different phonemes is found in the context of d-effect.
The varying contextual realizations of these three underlying segments are summarized in the following table:
| Underlying segment | Lenis | Fortis | D-effect | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| before pronounced as //a// | before pronounced as //o// | before pronounced as //i, e// | ||||
| pronounced as //ɣ// | pronounced as /ɰ̝/ | pronounced as /ɰ̝ʷ/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /x/ | pronounced as /k/ | |
| pronounced as //j// < Proto-Ath. | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /s/ | pronounced as /ts/ | |
| pronounced as //j// < Proto-Ath. | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /j˔/ | pronounced as /jˀ˔/ | |
The voiced continuants pronounced as //z, l, ʒ, ɰ̝// at the beginning of stems vary with their voiceless counterparts pronounced as //s, ɬ, ʃ, x//, respectively. The voiceless variants occur when preceded by voiceless consonants, such as pronounced as //s, ɬ, ʃ, h// while the voiced variants occur between voiced sounds (typically intervocalically). For example, the verb stems meaning 'spit it out', 'be burning', 'spit', and 'be ticklish' have the following forms with alternating voiced and voiceless stem-initial consonants:
| Phonetic forms | Orthographic forms | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[zóːh ~ sóːh]/ | ~ | 'spit it out' | |
| pronounced as /[lɪ̀t ~ ɬɪ̀t]/ | ~ | 'be burning' | |
| pronounced as /[ʒàh ~ ʃàh]/ | ~ | 'spit' | |
| pronounced as /[ɰ̝ʷòʒ ~ xʷòʒ]/ | ~ | 'be ticklish' |
Since the voicing is predictable, it can be represented more abstractly as an underlying consonant that is underspecified with respect to voicing. These archiphonemes can be indicated with the capital letters pronounced as //Z, L, Ʒ, Ɣ//.[8] The variant voicing of the stem-initial consonant can be found in the context of subject person prefixes which are added to the verb stem:
| Phonetic form | Orthographic form | Underlying segments[9] | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[hàɪ̀tɪ̀zóːh]/ | pronounced as /hàìtì-∅-Zóːh/ | 'he spits it out' | ||
| pronounced as /[hàtɪ̀sóːh]/ | pronounced as /hàtì-ʃ-Zóːh/ | 'I spit it out' | ||
| pronounced as /[hàtòhsóːh]/ | pronounced as /hàtì-oh-Zóːh/ | 'you two spit it out' | ||
| style='background-color: lightGrey;' colspan='4' | ||||
| pronounced as /[tɪ̀lɪ̀t]/ | pronounced as /tì-∅-Lìt/ | 'he's burning' | ||
| pronounced as /[tɪ̀ʃɬɪ̀t]/ | pronounced as /tì-ʃ-Lìt/ | 'I'm burning' | ||
| pronounced as /[tòhɬɪ̀t]/ | pronounced as /tì-oh-Lìt/ | 'you two are burning' | ||
| style='background-color: lightGrey;' colspan='4' | ||||
| pronounced as /[tɪ̀ʒàh]/ | pronounced as /tì-∅-Ʒàh/ | 'he spits' | ||
| pronounced as /[tɪ̀ʃàh]/ | pronounced as /tì-ʃ-Ʒàh/ | 'I spit' | ||
| pronounced as /[tòhʃàh]/ | pronounced as /tì-oh-Ʒàh/ | 'you two spit' | ||
| style='background-color: lightGrey;' colspan='4' | ||||
| pronounced as /[jɪ̀ɰ̝ʷòʒ]/ | pronounced as /∅-Ɣòʒ/ | 'he's ticklish' | ||
| pronounced as /[jɪ̀ʃxʷòʒ]/ | pronounced as /∅-ʃ-Ɣòʒ/ | 'I'm ticklish' | ||
| pronounced as /[wòhxʷòʒ]/ | pronounced as /∅-oh-Ɣòʒ/ | 'you two are ticklish' |
As the above examples show, the stem-initial consonant is voiced when intervocalic[10] and voiceless when it is preceded by a voiceless pronounced as //ʃ-// first person singular subject prefix[11] or a voiceless pronounced as /[h]/ in the pronounced as //oh-// two person dual subject prefix.
Another example of contextual voicing of verb-stem-initial consonants occurs when a voiceless pronounced as //-ɬ-// classifier prefix occurs before the stem as in the following:
| Phonetic form | Orthographic form | Underlying segments | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[tìːlzáːs]/ | pronounced as /tì-Vt-ɬ-Záːs/ | 'we two dribble it along' | ||
| pronounced as /[jɪ̀tɪ̀sáːs]/ | pronounced as /jìtì-ɬ-Záːs/ | 'he dribbles it along' | ||
| pronounced as /[tɪ̀sáːs]/ | pronounced as /tì-ʃ-ɬ-Záːs/ | 'I dribble it along' | ||
| pronounced as /[tòhsáːs]/ | pronounced as /tì-oh-ɬ-Záːs/ | 'you two dribble it along' |
In the verb-form pronounced as /[tìːlzáːs]/ ('we two dribble it along'), the pronounced as //Z// occurs between a voiced pronounced as /[l]/ and the voiced stem vowel pronounced as /[áː]/. Thus it is realized as a voiced pronounced as /[z]/. Here the pronounced as //-ɬ-// classifier is voiced due to the d-effect of the preceding pronounced as //Vt-// first person dual subject prefix. In the other verb-forms, the stem-initial pronounced as //Z// is preceded by voiceless pronounced as //-ɬ-// classifier which results in a voiceless realization of pronounced as /[s]/. In the surface verb-forms, the underlying pronounced as //-ɬ-// classifier is not pronounced due to a phonotactic restriction on consonant clusters.
The initial consonant of noun stems also display contextual voicing:
| Phonetic form | Orthographic form | Underlying segments | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /[sàːt]/ | pronounced as /sàːt/ | 'language' | ||
| pronounced as /[pɪ̀zàːt]/ | pronounced as /pì-sàːt/ | 'his language' | ||
| style='background-color: lightGrey;' colspan='4' | ||||
| pronounced as /[ɬɪ̀t]/ | pronounced as /ɬìt/ | 'smoke' | ||
| pronounced as /[pɪ̀lɪ̀t]/ | pronounced as /pì-ɬìt/ | 'his smoke' | ||
| style='background-color: lightGrey;' colspan='4' | ||||
| pronounced as /[ʃàːʒ]/ | pronounced as /ʃàːʒ/ | 'callous' | ||
| pronounced as /[pɪ̀ʒàːʒ]/ | pronounced as /pì-ʃàːʒ/ | "his callous" | ||
| pronounced as /[xʷòʃ]/ | pronounced as /xòʃ/ | "cactus" | ||
| pronounced as /[pɪ̀ɰ̝ʷòʃ]/ | pronounced as /pì-xòʃ/ | "his cactus" | ||
Here an intervocalic context is created by inflecting the nouns,,, with a pronounced as /[pɪ̀-]/ third person prefix which ends in a vowel. In this context, the stem-initial consonant is voiced. When these nouns lack a prefix (in which case the stem-initial consonant is word-initial), the realization is voiceless.
However, in some noun stems, the stem-initial continuant does not voice when intervocalic: pronounced as /[ʔàʃĩ̀ːh]/ ('salt').
The dorsal consonants pronounced as //k, kʰ, kʼ, x, ɣ// (written,,,,) have contextual phonetic variants (i.e. allophones) varying along place of articulation that depend on the following vowel environment. They are realized as palatals before the front vowels and and as velars before the back vowels and . Additionally, they are labialized before the rounded back vowel (IPA|o). This likewise happens with the velar frication of the aspirated pronounced as //tʰ//.
| Phoneme | Allophones | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palatal | Velar | Labial | ||
| pronounced as /k/ | pronounced as /[c(ʝ)]/ | pronounced as /[k(ɣ)]/ | pronounced as /[k(ɣ)ʷ]/ | |
| pronounced as /kʰ/ | pronounced as /[cç]/ | pronounced as /[kx]/ | pronounced as /[kxʷ]/ | |
| pronounced as /kʼ/ | pronounced as /[cʼ]/ | pronounced as /[kʼ]/ | pronounced as /[kʼʷ]/ | |
| pronounced as /x/ | pronounced as /[ç]/ | pronounced as /[x]/ | pronounced as /[xʷ]/ | |
| pronounced as /ɣ/ | pronounced as /[j˔]/ | pronounced as /[ɰ̝]/ | pronounced as /[ɰ̝ʷ]/ | |
| pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /[tç]/ | pronounced as /[tx]/ | pronounced as /[txʷ]/ | |
Navajo has coronal sibilant consonant harmony. Alveolar sibilants in prefixes assimilate to post-alveolar sibilants in stems, and post-alveolar prefixal sibilants assimilate to alveolar stem sibilants. For example, the si- stative perfective is realized as si- or shi- depending upon whether the stem contains a post-alveolar sibilant. For example, while sido ('it is hot' perfective) has the first form, shibeezh ('it is boiled' perfective), the stem-final pronounced as //ʒ// triggers the change to pronounced as //ʃ//.
A particular type of morphophonemic alternation (or mutation) in Athabascan languages called d-effect is found in Navajo. In most cases, the alternation is a fortition (or strengthening) process. The initial consonant of a verb stem alternates with a strengthened consonant when it is preceded by a pronounced as //-t-// (orthographic) "classifier" prefix or the pronounced as //-Vt-// first person dual subject prefix.[12] The underlying pronounced as //t// of these prefixes is absorbed into the following stem. D-effect can be viewed prosodically as the result of a phonotactic constraint on consonant clusters that would otherwise result from the concatenation of underlying segments. There is thus an interaction between a requirement for the grammatical information to be expressed in the surface form and an avoidance of having sequences of consonants (see the syllable section for more on phonotactics).
The fortition is typically a change from continuant to affricate or continuant to stop (i.e., adding a period of closure to the articulation). However, other changes involve glottalization of the initial consonant:
| Prefix consonant + Stem-initial consonant[13] | Surface consonant | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /t- + -Z/ | → | pronounced as /-ts/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //tʃʼéná-t-Zìt// → pronounced as /[tʃʼéná-tsìt]/ ('he woke up') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -L/ | → | pronounced as //-tl/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //ʔánéìnì-t-Laː// → pronounced as /[ʔánéìnì-tlaː]/ ('you repaired it') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -Ʒ/ | → | pronounced as //-tʃ/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //ʔákʼídíní-t-Ʒéːʔ// → pronounced as /[ʔákʼítíní-tʃéːʔ]/ ('you spit on yourself') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -j/ | → | pronounced as //-ts/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //nìː-Vt-jòɬ// → pronounced as /[nìː-tsòɬ]/ ('we two are driving them along') (cf. pronounced as //jìnòː-jòɬ// 'he is driving them along') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -Ɣ/ | → | pronounced as //-k/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //jì-Vt-Ɣòʒ// → pronounced as /[jìː-kòʒ]/ ('we two are ticklish') (cf. pronounced as //jì-ɣòʒ// 'he is ticklish') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -ʔ/ | → | pronounced as //-tʼ/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //nànìʃ-t-ʔìn// → pronounced as /[nànìʃ-tʼìn]/ ('I am hidden') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -m/ | → | pronounced as //-mʼ/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //jì-Vt-màs// → pronounced as /[jìː-mʼàs]/ ('we two are rolling along') (cf. pronounced as //jì-màs// 'he is rolling along') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -n/ | → | pronounced as //-nʼ/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //náːtòː-t-nìːt// → pronounced as /[náːtòː-nʼìːt]/ ('she said again') | |
| pronounced as //t- + -j/ | → | pronounced as //-jʼ/ | style='text-align: left;' | pronounced as //xònì-Vt-jóí// → pronounced as /[xònìː-jʼóí]/ ('we two are energetic') (cf. pronounced as //xònìʃ-jʼóí// 'I am energetic') |
The two occurrences of pronounced as /t- + -j/ in the chart above reflect two different patterns of d-effect involving stem-initial pronounced as //j//. Often different underlying consonants are posited to explain the different alternation. The first alternation is posited as a result of underlying pronounced as /t- + -ɣ/ leading to a d-effect mutation of pronounced as //dz//. The other is pronounced as /t- + -j/ resulting in pronounced as //jˀ//. (See the velar /ɣ/, palatal /j/ section for further explanation.)
Another example of d-effect influences not the stem-initial consonant but the classifier prefix. When the pronounced as //-Vt-// first person dual subject prefix precedes the pronounced as //-ɬ-// (orthographic) classifier prefix, the pronounced as //-ɬ-// classifier is realized as voiced pronounced as /[l]/:
Navajo has four contrastive vowel qualities pronounced as /[i, e, o, ɑ]/ at three different vowel heights (high, mid, low) and a front-back contrast between the mid vowels pronounced as /[e, o]/. There are also two contrastive vowel lengths and a contrast in nasalization. This results in 16 phonemic vowels, shown below.
| High | pronounced as /iː/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /eː/ | pronounced as /oː/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ɑː/ |
| High | pronounced as /ɪ/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ɛ/ | pronounced as /o/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ɑ/ |
| High | pronounced as /ĩː/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ẽː/ | pronounced as /õː/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ɑ̃ː/ |
| High | pronounced as /ĩ/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /ẽ/ | pronounced as /õ/ | |
| Low | pronounced as /ɑ̃/ |
There is a phonetic vowel quality difference between the long high vowel pronounced as //iː// (orthographic) and the short high vowel pronounced as //i// (orthographic): the shorter vowel is significantly lower at pronounced as /link/ than its long counterpart. This phonetic difference is salient to native speakers, who will consider a short vowel at a higher position to be a mispronunciation. Similarly, short pronounced as //e// is pronounced pronounced as /link/. Short pronounced as //o// is a bit more variable and more centralized, covering the space pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/. Notably, the variation in pronounced as //o// does not approach pronounced as /link/, which is a true gap in the vowel space.
Although the nasalization is contrastive in the surface phonology, many instances of nasalized vowels can be derived from a sequence of Vowel + Nasal consonant in a more abstract analysis. Additionally, there are alternations between long and short vowels that are predictable.
There have been a number of somewhat different descriptions of Navajo vowels, which are conveniently summarized in .
has acoustic measurements of the formants of Navajo long and short oral vowel pairs as pronounced by 10 female and 4 male native speakers. An earlier study has measurements from 7 female speakers.
Below are the median values of the first (F1) and second (F2) formants for these studies:
| Vowel | F1 | F2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /iː/ | 372 | 2532 | pronounced as /oː/ | 513 | 957 | |
| pronounced as /i/ | 463 | 2057 | pronounced as /o/ | 537 | 1154 | |
| pronounced as /eː/ | 487 | 2195 | pronounced as /ɑː/ | 752 | 1309 | |
| pronounced as /e/ | 633 | 1882 | pronounced as /ɑ/ | 696 | 1454 |
| Vowel | F1 | F2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /iː/ | 315 | 2528 | pronounced as /oː/ | 488 | 943 | |
| pronounced as /i/ | 391 | 2069 | pronounced as /o/ | 558 | 1176 | |
| pronounced as /eː/ | 498 | 2200 | pronounced as /ɑː/ | 802 | 1279 | |
| pronounced as /e/ | 619 | 2017 | pronounced as /ɑ/ | 808 | 1299 |
Navajo has two tones: high and low. Orthographically, high tone is marked with an acute accent (á) over the affected vowel, while low tone is left unmarked (a). This reflects the tonal polarity of Navajo, as syllables have low tone by default.
Long vowels normally have level tones (áá, aa). However, in grammatical contractions and in Spanish loan words such as Navajo; Navaho: béeso ('money' from Spanish Spanish; Castilian: [[peso]]), long vowels may have falling (áa) or rising (aá) tones.
The sonorant pronounced as //n// also carries tone when it is syllabic. Here again, the high tone is marked with an acute (ń) while the low tone is left unmarked (n).
Even though low tone is the default, these syllables are not underspecified for tone: they have a distinct phonetic tone, and their pitch is not merely a function of their environment. This contrasts with the related Carrier language. As in many languages, however, the pitches at the beginnings of Navajo vowels are lower after voiced consonants than after tenuis and aspirated consonants. After ejective consonants, only high tones are lowered, so that the distinction between high and low tone is reduced. However, the type of consonant has little effect on the pitch in the middle of the vowel, so that vowels have characteristic rising pitches after voiced consonants.
The pitch of a vowel is also affected by the tone of the previous syllable: in most cases, this has as great an effect on the pitch of a syllable as its own tone. However, this effect is effectively blocked by an intervening aspirated consonant.
Navajo nouns are simple: pronounced as //kʰṍ// pronounced as /[kʰṍ]/ kǫ́ ('fire'), pronounced as //pi-tiɬ// pronounced as /[pìtìɬ]/ bidił ('his blood'). Most long nouns are actually deverbal.
In verbs, with few exceptions, only stems may carry a high tone: C V(ː)(C)(T). Prefixes are mostly single consonants, C-, and do not carry tone. The one exception is the high-tone vocalic prefix pronounced as //ʌ́n/-/. Most other tone-bearing units in the Navajo verb are second stems or clitics.
All Navajo verbs can be analyzed as compounds, and this greatly simplifies the description of tone. There are two obligatory components, the "I" stem (for "inflection") and the "V" stem (for "verb"), each potentially bearing a high tone, and each preceded by its own prefixes.[14] In addition, the compound as a whole takes 'agreement' prefixes like the prefixes found on nouns. This entire word may then take proclitics, which may also carry tone:
| clitics= | agreement– | (prefixes– | I-stem) | + | (prefixes– | V-stem) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tone | tone | tone | |||||
(Hyphens "–" mark prefixes, double hyphens "=" mark clitics, and plus signs "+" join compounds.)
Any high tones on clitics spread to the next syllable of the word only if it is short and located immediately before the verbal stem. This can be seen with the iterative clitic pronounced as //ná/꞊/. Compare
ha=ni-sh+ł-chaad
hanishchaad
'I card it (wool)'
and
ha=ná=ni-sh+ł-chaʼ
hanáníshchaʼ
'I usually card it (wool)'where the clitic ná= creates a high tone on the following short pre-stem syllable in bold, but,
ha=ná=ni-iid+ł-chaʼ
hanániichaʼ
'we usually card it (wool)'
and
ha=ná=da=ni-oh+ł-chaʼ
hanídanołchaʼ
'you (pl) usually card it (wool)'
where it does not.