Navajo of the United States

Organizations interested in Native Americans had assumed that all would soon speak English, so no one had made a Navajo alphabet suitable for Navajo literacy.

When the U.S. government saw that Navajos resisted English, it turned to bilingual education.

Government linguists John Harrington, Robert Young, and William Morgan made a practical alphabet based on the scientific work of Edward Sapir and Zelig Harris. It fit the Navajo language while being close to the writing of English.

The SIL team cooperated with the government in promoting its alphabet and program.

They made primers and reading aids for the schools, and traveled throughout the area teaching literacy.

This encouraged the other organizations working with the Navajos to cooperate also.

Now:

• there are some 50,000 readers of Navajo
• the Navajos are writing their own language
• the Navajo Bible is the backbone of an indigenous Christian movement.

One woman remarked, "English enters my head, but Navajo enters my heart."