Why #Navajo is the world’s hardest language to learn
The tonal #NativeAmerican#language differentiates words based on #pitch and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play.
by Tim Brinkhof, November 27, 2023
"Concentrated in #Arizona and #NewMexico, the Navajo are one of the largest Native American groups in the United States. Consisting of up to 400,000 tribal members, they are thought to have originated from northwestern #Canada and were forcibly moved to their present location by the federal government in the 1860s during #TheLongWalk.
"Traditional Navajo families live in circular mud-and-log homes called hogans, create intricate ceremonial paintings made of sand, and hold four-day runs (a ritual called kinaalda) to celebrate young girls turning into adult women.
"Arguably, the most important aspect of Navajo culture is their language. Also known as #Diné#Bizaad (the “people’s language”), Navajo is similar to #Apache, from which it separated between 1300 and 1525 AD. Both Navajo and Apache belong to a language family called #Athabaskan, which, providing evidence for their geographic origin, is also spoken by native tribes in #Yukon, #Alaska, and #BritishColumbia. As with other Native American languages, #globalization and #discrimination threaten Navajo’s survival. In 2017, the number of fluent speakers was estimated at 170,000, less than half of the tribe’s population.
"Learning Navajo isn’t easy. Compared to other complicated but more widely spoken languages, like Korean or Arabic, there are limited resources available to non-speakers. Mastery of Navajo language also requires a level of familiarity with Navajo customs, something even some Indigenous people no longer have access to.
"That said, the most daunting aspect of learning Navajo is the language itself. Described by linguists Robert W. Young and William Morgan as a 'hopeless maze of irregularities,' its unique grammar, syntax, and tonal pronunciation are so indecipherable to outsiders that, during the Second World War, the American army used Navajo as a form of military code."