Talk:jádí dághaaʼígíí

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jádí dághaaʼígíí

This is just a test to see whether a randomly chosen Navajo noun describing something not found in the American Southwest can be cited. Only a single cite, use or mention, is required. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 05:01, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Very few Navajo words can be found online. Just because the animal doesn’t live in the Southwest is no reason not to be able to speak about them. How many black mambas have people seen in the U.S.? We still have a word for them. Navajo is descriptive. The Navajo names for things describe the things. —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:16, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

I fully agree with you. I also don't see why it must be found online. However, every entry still must satisfy the CFI. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 05:22, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

If you have to find examples in books for words in languages that are virtually unwritten, then we have to stop adding words in those languages. Many books were destroyed in the 1940s to keep the language from being studied. Any surviving materials from the 1940s or earlier used a variety of makeshift orthographies, such as "nǽĕshjā băˊnă'ái", used by the Franciscan Friars for the hawk owl. Very few people can recognize that spelling today, which ignores glottal stops, nasalization, tone, and other important features of Navajo phonology. If you can find it somewhere, be my guest. Until then, we have to cease the Navajo effort. —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:34, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

So is this your proposal to modify the CFI? DTLHS (talk) 06:11, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

@Stephen: If Navajo is essentially unwritten, then how do we know that this entry is accurate? If you said it to a native speaker, would they know what you were talking about?

@DTLHS: I'm sorry, I don't understand your question or who it was aimed at. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 06:15, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

What I mean is, why are you bringing this up unless you think the CFI should be changed for languages such as Navajo? DTLHS (talk) 07:02, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

A native speaker would understand it much better than many English speakers would understand northern hawk owl, echidna, or yowie. Northern hawk owl is three simple words, but it is really meaningless to the vast majority of people, except for the word owl. Navajo is a transparent language and people understand words even if they have not encountered them before. —Stephen ^(Talk) 06:23, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

Someone with access to a good university library should look in Young and Morgan's The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary. It's probably in there. —Angr 15:17, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

@Angr: Why would it be in a colloquial dictionary? How often do Navajo discuss gnu?

@Stephen: What if they thought it was just a bearded pronghorn? That seems very hit-or-miss to me, not exactly descriptive so much as allusive. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 04:10, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

First of all, if it's the work I think it is, don't let the title fool you: it has just about everything you can think of in it- it weighs only slightly less than the gnu itself...

Secondly, what makes you think that Navajo only discuss basket-weaving and sheep-herding? Chuck Entz (talk) 04:34, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

What makes you think that the Navajo discuss gnu? I certainly don't, or at least I can't remember the last time I did. This is one of the best attested Native American languages in terms of our CFI requirements, and yet the minimum of a single mention has not been reached. All that said... I'm trying to get access to my state's university system libraries. I'll see what I can do, but don't expect me to find it. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 05:19, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

I have a copy in a box somewhere in my storage unit. If memory serves, it's over a thousand very large pages of near-microscopic type- potentially quite useful in hand-to-hand combat if one can lift it... Chuck Entz (talk) 05:43, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Chuck is certainly thinking of the same book I am, though I may have gotten the title wrong. Used properly with a sling, it could bring down a gnu. —Angr 10:30, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

I found my copy, and it doesn't have the term.Chuck Entz (talk) 06:23, 29 December 2012 (UTC)

It's not in Young and Morgan's Analytical Lexicon of Navajo, either, FWTW. - -sche (discuss) 04:34, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

• Failed verification as it's not found even in two major Navajo dictionaries. —Angr 14:57, 5 June 2013 (UTC)