From H to Hajinei: On some Implications of Feelingful Iconicity and Orthography in Navajo Poetry

Abstract

This paper examines the use of co-switching in Navajo written poetry. I look specifically at the use of code-switching from English dominant poems to Navajo. I outline three general semantic domains that are most commonly code-switched from English to Navajo: 1) emotions; 2) mythic characters; and 3) traditional place-names. I suggest that this has to do with a general linguistic ideology that understands these domains as incommensurate with English. I argue that such code-switches are emblematic identity displays. I conclude by discussing the relationship between folk orthographies and standard orthographies. I argue that an over-reliance on the standard and a diminishing of folk orthographies limits the potential for creativity and subtly undermines notions of incommensurability when Navajo poets are limited to the standard, a standard that many Navajos do not know.

Keywords: Navajo; Poetry; Orthography; Code-switching; Place names.