English and Navajo/Contrastive Grammar
From LING073
Contents
NAV-ENG Tests
Determiners
- Navajo has no equivalent determiner to English's "the" or "a"
- (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")
- (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>
Postpositions
- Navajo has a wide array of postpositions, also applying possessive inflection on them
- (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")
- (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>
Pronouns
- Pronouns are often excluded in Navajo, appearing only as morphemes within the verb
- (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")
- (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>
Verb placement
- Verbs always appear at the end of the sentence in Navajo
- (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")
- (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>
Future Verb mode
- Unlike English, which conveys the future tense with an auxilliary "will," Navajo encodes this information in the verb, having a slightly different stem and set of subject prefixes for the verb.
- (fra) Je le mangerai → (spa) Yo lo comeré ("I'll eat it.")
- (fra) je<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> le<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> manger<v><tv><fut><p1><sg> → (spa) yo<prn><pers><p1><sg><nom> lo<prn><pers><p3><m><acc> comer<v><tv><fut><p1><sg>