User:Matt spiegel/sandbox

The language of the Navajo or Navaho, Diné Bizaad, simply known as Diné, meaning "The People" to native speakers is currently the most prominently known indigenous language based in the United States. The language belongs to the Athabaskan branch of the Na-Dené family, it is also the largest language of the family. It is closely related to the Apache language (also Athabaskan Na-Dené) but does not share similarities with other Indigenous languages of the Americas. The language is widely spoken across the Southwestern portion of the United States with nearly 170,000 speakers, 7,600 of which being monolinguals, but is most prominently spoken in Arizona and New Mexico. However most of the speakers of Navajo live on Navajo Nation Reservation s creating a concentrated area of speakers.

While Diné is not a language that faces immediate extinction the exponential decrease in people who speak the language is significant. Both the Navajo people and supporters of the language have attempted at he revitalization of the language. Efforts to save the language spread past the Navajo people themselves and have expanded to individuals and whole communities who sympathize with the speakers. With the combined efforts of both the Navajo tribe and their supporters, including local governments, the language has seen a recent increase in speakers, however consistent growth still eludes the language.

History
Prior to the 1800s, the language was written but not written. Writing of the language emerged in the 1800s through Spanish missionaries, the development of the written portion of the language formed slowly as the Navajo did not create the written language by themselves but rather with the assistance of interpreters and willing linguists. Because multiple missionaries created unique spelling systems, multiple written Navajo languages emerged, creating a need for a standardized language. Employed by the head of Indian Education John Collier (sociologist) in the 1930s, it was decided John Peabody Harrington, Robert W. Young, William Morgan, and Oliver La Farge would take charge of the project. The standard Navajo alphabet was completed in 1939, however it was initially not received well by the Navajo people due to the distrust of Collier's motivations.

Strategic Use
With the late emergence of the written Navajo language the United States decided to employ Navajo speakers to transmit and decode messages during World War II as early in the war there was no widely accepted written version. Deciphering the language simply based on phonetics was impossible due to different dialects and the enemies' nonexistent exposure to the language. Even when exposed to the language it is immensely difficult to translate unless previously exposed to the language extensively.