The Diné Bizaad: The Navajo Language
There is an estimated 6,800 languages spoken in the world today. Linguists say that about half of the languages are endangered, and that 90% will disappear by the end of this century (Rozovsky). With the possibility of extinction for a language, not only does the language die but the culture will also come to its demise, a perfect example of this situation is the Navajo language. Also known as Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language is a language in the Athabaskan branch with approximately 175,000 people in the United States (“Diné Bizaad …”). The Navajo Indians are located in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, their language isn’t necessarily the most endangered, the language is only at risk of being severely endangered. The Navajo Indians have approximately 7,600 monolingual people, the Navajo language is still going pretty
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Anthropologists, however, speculate that the Navajo people originated from Mongolian tribes from extreme western Asia that may have migrated across the Bering Strait, either by frozen ocean or an ancient land bridge. By using various studies of language development, Linguists have proven the anthropological theory; recent studies have concluded the Navajo language is a part of the larger Athabaskan family (“History”). The Navajo people are now located in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. In 1968 the tribe opened the first Native-operated College also known as Navajo Community College, in hopes the Navajo language and culture will live amongst the generations to come (“Navajo History”). Coincidently, the Navajo language is the largest living language of the whole Na-Dené language family, not just the Athabaskan branch which the language is categorized under and the language itself is still growing in
Anthropologists, however, speculate that the Navajo people originated from Mongolian tribes from extreme western Asia that may have migrated across the Bering Strait, either by frozen ocean or an ancient land bridge. By using various studies of language development, Linguists have proven the anthropological theory; recent studies have concluded the Navajo language is a part of the larger Athabaskan family (“History”). The Navajo people are now located in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. In 1968 the tribe opened the first Native-operated College also known as Navajo Community College, in hopes the Navajo language and culture will live amongst the generations to come (“Navajo History”). Coincidently, the Navajo language is the largest living language of the whole Na-Dené language family, not just the Athabaskan branch which the language is categorized under and the language itself is still growing in