Talk:tłʼízí yázhí

Isn't this sum of parts? All you're saying is that a young goat is called a "young goat" in Navajo. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 19:57, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

It is a set term just like kid. If you didn’t know it, then how would you know that it wasn’t tłʼízí yáázh, tłʼízí ániid, tłʼízí biyázhí, tłʼízí áłtsʼíísí, or any one of many other possibilities. It’s no different from amá sání (old mother), which means grandmother and most other Navajo terms. Navajo is not like English...English is an opaque language, and its words often or usually cannot be understood by the elements that comprise them. We have to learn the meanings of words independently of the prefixes, suffixes, roots, and the rest, and some of us study English all of our lives and never learn more than a small fraction of the words. Navajo is transparent, and almost all terms (whether a single word or more than one word) show the meaning of a word. Navajos who are fluent speakers know every single word in their language by the age of about seven. They have no need of dictionaries, because every speaker knows every meaning of every words. If you tell him a new word that he has not encountered, such as jádí dághaaʼígíí, he understands exactly what it means and could point it out instantly if he ever saw one. To a Navajo, every word is sum of its parts, but to anyone who does not know the language, they are the terms that are used and they would not be easily deduced. —Stephen ^(Talk) 21:50, 28 April 2013 (UTC)