Tricked

Pronunciation Guide

There’s a reason the Navajo Code Talkers were so invaluable to the Marines in WWII. Their language, while beautiful, is really difficult to describe, filled with little glottal stops and special characters and mind-shredding verb constructions like the optative-semelfactive. They have no adjectives but rather use their verbs in an adjectival way. To illustrate how complicated it can get, there is no Navajo word for the verb to give but rather eleven different words that vary depending on the size and shape of what is being given. I don’t use many words of their language in this book, but I’ve done my best to give you a clue about the few you’ll see below. None of them are verbs. Also note that there are regional differences in pronunciation, just as there are different dialects in English, so some of these pronunciations may differ slightly depending on where you are in the Navajo Nation.

Áłtsé Hashké = Aht SEH hash KEH (Translates to First Angry, or perhaps First Mad or First Scolder. It’s the proper name of one of the First People, Coyote.)

Áńł’įįh = unn TEE (Means the Witchery Way, or the Corpse-Poison Way.)

ch’įįdii = CHEE dee (A ghost, but specifically the part of one’s spirit that wasn’t in harmony with the universe at the time of death.)

Diné = dih NEH (Means the People. It’s what the Navajo call themselves; the term Navajo was slapped on them by the Spanish and it stuck. In this book, art will imitate life; the Diné will call themselves Diné, and everyone else — including Atticus — will call them Navajo.)

Diné Bahane’ = dih NEH bah HAH neh (Means Story of the People. It is the Navajo creation story, parts of which are sung in various ceremonies.)

Hataałii = hah TAH hlee (This translates to singer, a person who sings at ceremonial occasions and creates sandpaintings, important in many rituals from blessing structures to restoring balance in those who have lost it; in crude terms, a medicine man.)

Hózh = hoh ZHOH (This means very good, or great energy, everything spiffy and balanced in the world, which English sometimes translates to blessing. To be honest, it doesn’t translate well into English; it’s just one of those words that are too big for Anglo-Saxon noises.)

Hózhji = hoh ZHOH jee (This means Blessing Way.)

Nílch’i = NIL cheh (Literally, air, but in stories this is the name of the wind. And, yeah, that l with the cross through it doesn’t really get pronounced like an English l, but it’s more of a guttural noise behind your molars; using an l is just an expedient approximation.)

Tyende = tee YEH in DEH (This mesa is located about ten miles southwest of Kayenta. Incredibly beautiful sandstone — just don’t be in a wash after a rain. Get to the high ground FAST, because they aren’t kidding about flash floods.)

Faolan = FWAY lawn (This isn’t a Navajo name, by the way; we’re back to the Irish here.)

Ogma = OG mah (Pronounced og as in log. It’s not like the Ó in Aenghus Óg. That had a diacritical mark over it so you’d pronounce it as a long O. This one’s short. Ogma is credited with teaching Druids Ogham script, among other things.)