The poetics and politics of Navajo ideophony in contemporary Navajo poetry

Abstract

This article describes aspects of Navajo sound symbolism within its social and political contexts. Specifically, it focuses on the use of Navajo ideophony. Examples of Navajo ideophony are presented from a variety of verbal and written genres including song, narrative, place-names, and contemporary written poetry. It is argued that Navajo ideophony is an important poetic device in Navajo aesthetics and that its current promotion in written poetry challenges a simple view of ideophony as fragile in the face of outside contact. Navajo ideophony also challenges a received Western linguistic ideology that devalues such expressive forms.