Re: Navaho (was: version declaration for le lojbau)

[C.J.Fine@BRADFORD.AC.UK]

Cowan asks:
> >
> > What is "ava'o"?

And answers:
>
> I was thinking of Navaho. For culturally sensitive words like those
> for languages and cultures I guess some device analogous to _la'o_
> is desirable. I suppose one could say _lei me la'o fa. nava'o fa._
> (or whatever the Navaho call their tongue). It's a bit of a mouthful,
> though: contrast _lei glibau_, which is 5 syllables shorter because
> of the culturally dominant position of English.

Navaho for Navaho is 'dine bizaad' ie '(the) people's language'. Possible
constructions for what you're wanting are:

le'avla:
        bangrdine
        bangrnavaxo (less favoured, but recognisable to more people)

pseudo lujvo (using the new cmavo 'zei' - lujvo glue):
        navaxos. zei bangu
        dinebizAd. zei bangu

tanru:
        mela navaxos. bangu
        mela dines. bangu
        mela'o dy. dine bizaad dy. bangu

sumti:
        la'ezoi dy. dine bizaad dy. (this is a sumti, the others are
                                        selbri).

Always we run into the familiar difficulty that the preferred forms use the
Navajos' own name for themselves (dine) and their language (dine bizaad) but
few non-Navajos will recognise the name.

Similarly
        bangrdjalagi    = is the Cherokee language (le'avla)

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