Navajo
Diné Bizaad
The Navajo alphabet (Diné Bizaad) is the writing system of Navajo, the most-spoken Indigenous language in the United States with roughly 170,000 speakers. It uses a Latin-based alphabet with high tones marked by acutes (á é í ó), nasal vowels marked by ogoneks (ą ę į ǫ), the slashed L (ł) for a voiceless lateral fricative, and apostrophes for glottalized consonants.
All 43 Letters
About
The Navajo alphabet (Diné Bizaad) is the writing system of Navajo, the most-spoken Indigenous language in the United States with roughly 170,000 speakers. It uses a Latin-based alphabet with high tones marked by acutes (á é í ó), nasal vowels marked by ogoneks (ą ę į ǫ), the slashed L (ł) for a voiceless lateral fricative, and apostrophes for glottalized consonants.
The modern Navajo orthography was standardized in the 1930s and 40s by linguists Robert Young and William Morgan working with Navajo speakers. The system marks every distinction Navajo speakers hear — four tones, nasal vowels, glottalized consonants — making it one of the most phonetically detailed orthographies in use today.
History
Navajo had no traditional written form until the 19th century. After several missionary attempts, the modern orthography was standardized in the 1930s and 40s by linguists Robert Young and William Morgan working with Navajo speakers. The system marks every distinction Navajo speakers hear — four tones, nasal vowels, glottalized consonants — making it one of the most phonetically detailed orthographies in use today.
Famously, Navajo Code Talkers used the language (orally) as an unbreakable cipher in WWII Pacific theater. Because Japanese had no Navajo speakers and the language's complex tones, nasal vowels, and grammar resisted decipherment, the code was never broken.
Things You Might Not Know
- •Navajo has four tones (high, low, rising, falling) — only the high tone is marked with an acute (á); the rest are inferred from context.
- •The slashed L (ł) is a voiceless lateral fricative — it sounds like a 'thl' or 'tl' cluster in English ears, and exists in Welsh and Zulu but not English.
- •Glottalized consonants are written with an apostrophe (t', k', ch') — these are produced with a closure of the vocal cords, common across Native American languages.
- •Navajo Code Talkers in WWII used Navajo orally because the Japanese had no Navajo speakers and the language's complex tones, nasal vowels, and grammar resisted decipherment.
Frequently Asked Questions
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