read the sentence. we went to phoenix, which is the capital of arizona. what is the action verb?
Scanning betwixt the words in her book and examples of Navajo sentence structure on a whiteboard, Jolanda Avila was determined to write a full sentence in her nation'south language.
She brought her 18-year-old daughter, Adrianna, here to a Phoenix classroom on a Wednesday evening for a simple reason.
"I don't know the language, and so I can't laissez passer it on to my kids." she said.
Avila, 36, lives in Peoria with her husband and four kids. All of her children are part Navajo, but none is fluent in the linguistic communication, Diné, or oftentimes exposed to the culture.
That'southward why Avila enrolled them in language and culture classes offered at the Phoenix Indian Center.
Avila believes that Navajo civilization and language are in the heart. Over the years, Avila has absorbed pocket-size bits of the linguistic communication -- more than she previously thought, in fact. Those bits and pieces provide her a sense of comfort and prophylactic, even if she doesn't always understand all the Diné she hears.
"You feel home, and I want my kids to experience that same style," she said. "They don't get that as much because we live in an urban community, and there'southward not very many Native Americans to collaborate with."
How Navajos lost their fluency
The Navajo population has more 330,000 people, and 22 per centum of them live in metropolitan areas. The Phoenix area has the largest Navajo population, with more than 50,000 people, co-ordinate to a report produced by the Navajo Epidemiology Heart.
Even though there are more than than 330,000 Navajo people, only nearly 169,000 are fluent speakers, according to the U.S. Census Agency.
The dwindling of Navajo fluency can be traced to the cultural assimilation of the Navajo people during the boarding-school days, when they were rewarded for speaking English and punished for speaking their linguistic communication.
Evangeline Parsons Yazzie, who is an emerita professor of Navajo at Northern Arizona University, recalls the times she would have her rima oris washed out with soap for speaking her language at Navajo Gospal Mission School in Hardrock, Arizona.
"Nosotros use soap for cleaning off clay, and and so yous commencement to recollect, 'What is wrong with my language? is it dirty?' " she said.
Yazzie believes there is however a stigma of shame surrounding that Navajo language.
"I can see us kind of moving away from that shame, but a lot of information technology is still in that location and it's very heavy," she added.
When Yazzie looks at the statistics on Navajo fluency presented by the U.S. Census, she feels that they demand to be clarified because at that place are many levels of fluency in the Navajo language.
"When they say but this number of people speak Navajo, it's misleading," she added.
"There is a want to speak (Navajo) and every bit long as the desire is in that location all yous have to do is scratch the surface and the language is there."
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Reconnecting with tribal culture
There is a huge divergence between growing up in the urban center and on the reservation more than iii hours abroad, said Jolyana Begay-Kroupa, Phoenix Indian Center's director of evolution. She feels it'southward important for Navajo people living in the metropolis to be exposed to the language and culture, even if it'due south on a weekly basis.
That's why the midtown Phoenix middle offers Diné (Navajo) language and cultural classes, to give Navajo people living in the urban center a manner to stay connected.
On one side of the building, you lot can hear drum beats and songs every bit people participate in the Diné Singing course. On the other, you tin can hear people testing phrases in the Navajo linguistic communication equally office of the Adult Showtime Diné Language class.
The Navajo linguistic communication form is designed for non-Navajo speakers like Jolanda and her daughter, and it helps them become started on a very basic level.
The difficulty of pedagogy Diné
Navajo linguistic communication consultant Laverne Mannie stood by the whiteboard and went over sentence structure in Navajo using the book Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo'aah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language,written by Yazzie, the language adept.
"If you really stick with that book and your lessons, it'due south guaranteed you lot'll be reading and writing in Navajo," Mannie said.
On the whiteboard, she had three words divided into three categories: subject noun, object noun and verb.
One of the most mutual challenges Mannie said learners face is that many don't know how to translate words from Navajo to English.
The claiming is that Navajo is a verb-based language. Verbs are powerful, whereas in the English, verbs don't hold much ability.
"I'm introducing words to them both in Navajo and English so they tin can have that connection," Mannie said. She recommends three simple steps: hear information technology, say it, write it.
"Y'all have to think almost what you say," Mannie said to the grade. "It really is hard."
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'It'due south a very sacred culture'
While the adults learned how to speak the language, across the building others were learning how to sing it.
Diné singing instructor Petra Reyes has been singing with the programme for 10 years, and she hopes that other urban dwellers embrace their indigenous identity.
"Information technology's really empowering and amazing to exist able to expose the children to function of who they are," Reyes said.
The form is intergenerational, and she has participants focus on the key words, meaning, rhythm and melody. She believes that it offers them a ameliorate understanding of what songs they're singing and why they're singing them.
One of Reyes' students is 8-year-old Elshadiaha Hardin, who attends the course with her younger brother.
"My favorite part virtually it is that we learn new words and it'south fun," said Elshadiaha. She's been learning how to sing in Navajo for the past three years.
"It's a very sacred culture," she added, and "it's good to learn near it or else it won't be effectually anymore."
Elshadiaha has learned four new songs this summer. Her favorite Navajo vocal is nigh fry staff of life, because she loves it.
Their grandmother, Mary Sands, said in that location's no other place like this.
"It's easier for them to grasp information technology (Navajo language) when they sing it," she added.
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Proud of who they are
Begay-Kroupa says fifty-fifty if class members acquire merely i song, it gives them a chance to be proud of who they are as Navajo people.
"The young students often take what they're learning and share it with others ... that are not Navajo," she added.
Down the hall, that sense of pride was obvious equally Jolanda Avila took the $.25 and pieces of Diné that live in her heart, and spun them into a consummate sentence.
Asdźaá doo hastiin nidaalnish. Translation: "The woman and human being are working."
"I don't know if I'll always be able to teach my kids (Navajo)," Avila said. "Merely I desire to found the seed."
More nearly the classes
The Phoenix Indian Center offers Diné linguistic communication and cultural classes every leap, summertime, and fall. Registration is complimentary for Navajo people living in the Phoenix area, and $150 for non-Navajos.
The summer classes for the Diné culture series, developed beginning Diné language and early on childhood Diné language, are still open up for registration and run weekly until the terminate of July. They're offered every bound, summer and autumn semesters.
For more information, visit www.phxindcenter.org.
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Source: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/07/09/navajos-phoenix-regaining-fluency/441339001/
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