-YĄ́

From Proto-Athabaskan *ɣʸanʸ (“to grow”). Possibly from the same source of the root -YĄĄD (“to be wise, experienced”). The meaning of this root refers either to physical maturity of humans or to an increment in size of plants and vegetation.

The initial consonant of the root is subjected to the following irregular phonetic alterations:

• In the theme ni + ∅ + -YĄ́ (“to grow up, mature, accumulate”, intransitive)

1. when preceded by the voiceless fricative -sh-, the marker of the first person singular, it surfaces as y (IPA: )

   e.g., nishyé (“I grow up”, imperfective), dínéeshyééł (“I will grow up”, future) and nóshyééł (“I would grow up”, optative)

2. in the first person duoplural, due to the d-effect, it is realized as g (IPA: )

   e.g., niigé (“we (two) grow up”, imperfective), díníigééł (“we (two) will grow up”, future) and noogééł (“we (two) would grow up”, optative)

• In the theme O + ni + ł + -YĄ́ (“to raise O, bring O up”, transitive)

1. it merges with the ł-classifier, producing s (IPA: )

   e.g., yinisé (“s/he raises him/her”, imperfective), yidínóosééł (“s/he will raise him/her”, future), yinósééł (“s/he would raise him/her”, optative)

2. it becomes z (IPA: ) after l (< d + ł-classifier, by d-effect), especially in passive themes (ni + l + -YĄ́, “to be raised, reared”, passive)

   e.g., nilzé (“it is raised”, passive of the preceding base, imperfective)

The momentaneous imperfective stem has two shapes, mainly -yééh and -yé. The latter, however, is identical to the conclusive imperfective stem of the same root.

-YĄ́

1. to grow up, mature, grow in size, accumulate

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Navajo terms belonging to the root -YĄ́ (grow)