The Land is Full of Stories: Navajo Histories in the Work of Luci Tapahonso

Fast, Robin Riley

doi:10.1080/00497870701255388

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There has been recent scholarly work on the use of Navajo in Navajo poetry that is written predominately in English (see Brill 1997;Webster 2006aWebster , 2006bFast 2007). Susan Brill (1997: 135), for example, argues that, "the Navajo language is used in many of their stories to move their reader-listeners into the Navajo worlds of those stories, even when those stories are predominantly in English.…”

Section: Navajo Language In Navajo Poetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Luci Tapahonso, the single most well-known Navajo poet on the Navajo Nation (see Webster 2008), does not use a single example of bilingual Navajo in any of her published poetry that I have been able to locate. On the other hand, the three books of poetry published by Tapahonso listed in the Appendix all have multiple examples of code-switching from English dominant poetry into Navajo (her code-switching is also the topic of Brill 1997 andFast 2007). Code-switching into Navajo from English language poetry is quite common.…”

Section: Bilingual Navajo In Navajo Poetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“Plaza ‘góó and before he can respond…”

Webster¹

2022

PRAG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article suggests that much of the use of the Navajo language in contemporary Navajo written poetry, especially English dominant poetry, serves as an icon of proper Navajo usage. It is a purist view of the Navajo language. Navajo poetry is implicated, even if tacitly, in a discourse of linguistic purism that is tied to an oppositional linguistic ideology that sees Navajo and English as discrete and distinct “objects.” Navajo poetry erases the contemporary sociolinguistic diversity - including bilingual Navajo - on the Navajo Nation. And in so doing, it closes off parts of Navajo sociolinguistic realities and in its stead creates an imagined Navajo language community.

show abstract

Section: Navajo Language In Navajo Poetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bilingual Navajo In Navajo Poetrymentioning

confidence: 99%