-ZHĮ́
Navajo
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-Athabaskan *šen (“summer”).
In Navajo, the initial fricative *š of Proto-Athabaskan didn't sonorize to zh, so in verbal stems and in the nominal stem shį́ (“summer”) the initial voiceless fricative sh is maintained (with the exception of the adverbial derivative díízhíní (“this summer”), which shows a later sonorization). However, for consistency, the stem set of this root is presented with an analogical voiced initial zh. See also -HAI (“winter”) for a similar situation.
Root
edit-ZHĮ́
Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
∅ | motion |
it becomes summer
|
Stem set
editAspect | IMP | PERF | FUT | ITER | OPT |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MOM | -zhį́į́h | -zhį́ | -zhį́į́ł | -zhį́į́h | -zhį́į́h |
See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.