As with undergraduate courses, interested graduate students are welcome to take as many Navajo language courses as they would like. Linguistic graduate students are able to take higher level Navajo Linguistics courses as well. However, the Navajo Language Program itself does not offer a Master of Arts in Navajo Language. As we are part of the Department of Linguistics at UNM, students interested in getting a graduate degree studying the Navajo language should apply for a MA in Linguistics with a concentration in Native Languages of the Southwest with a focus in Navajo.
Navajo Focus Requirements
Required Courses
- NVJO 501 — Navajo Linguistics
- NVJO 511 — Navajo Verb System I
- NVJO 512 — Navajo Verb System II
- NVJO 515 — Advanced Navajo
Additionally, one course must be taken from the areas of Field Research or Bilingualism and Bilingual/Multicultural Education.
Field Research
- LING 511 Language Documentation
- LING 513 Linguistic Field Methods
- LING 515 Native American Languages
- LING 559 Language and Culture
- NATV 545 Politics of Identity
- NATV 502 Education, Power and Indigenous Communities
Bilingualism and Bilingual/Multicultural Education
- LING 590 Childhood Bilingualism
- LING 568 Seminar in Psycholinguistics: Bilingualism
- LLSS 554 Teaching the Native American Child
- LLSS 560 Language and Education in Southwest Native American Communities
- LLSS 580 Seminar in the Education of the Bilingual Student
To learn more about the requirements for the Navajo focus, please visit the Linguistic Department’s page about the subject. For graduate advising and more general information about the MA in Linguistics, please contact the Linguistics program graduate advisor, Dr. Naomi Shin, at naomishin@unm.edu.