Articles and Stories

June 11, 2014

News of the death of Chester Nez, the last living talker of the Navajo code, which was created and used during WWII, brought to light once again the plasticity of language and how it can be sculpted and manipulated into whatever we decide it will be.

We impose the rules of language so that communication is possible – the rules are necessary in order for communication to be effective. But we can just as easily remove the rules to create a completely new language, or code. This is what was accomplished by Mr. Nez and 28 other Navajo – English speakers after the Japanese bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. He and the other Navajo speakers, who had previously been scorned and ostracized for speaking their native language, were recruited by the US Marine Corp and became heroes for creating an unbreakable code and risking their lives on the battlefields to send and decipher critical messages between America and its allies.

Since the Navajo language was purely a spoken language and contained complicated syntax, it was the perfect foundation for an unbreakable code. Between the 29 men, agreement had to be made for words that did not even translate to Navajo. They had to make up the code names for many military words that did not exist in their native language. In doing so, they made an invaluable contribution to the American effort in WWII. Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored for their contributions to defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Here are some examples:

AIRCRAFT

TSIDI-MOFFA-YE-HI

BIRD CARRIER

SUBMARINE

BESH-LO

IRON FISH

DIVE BOMBER

GINI

CHICKEN HAWK

FIGHTER PLANE

DA-HE-TIH-HI

HUMMING BIRD

BOMBER PLANE

JAY-SHO

BUZZARD

RADAR

ESAT-TSANH (R)

LISTEN

SCOUT

HA-A-SID-AL-SIZI-GIH

SHORT RACOON

GRENADES

NI-MA-SI

POTATOES

We are proud to have a direct descendant of one of the Code Talkers as a Navajo linguist working with us on our Navajo project. For those who do not read and write Navajo, we also offer audio recordings.