Linguistic Society of America

Two Navaho Puns Author(s): Edward Sapir Reviewed work(s): Source: Language, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Sep., 1932), pp. 217-219 Published by: Linguistic Society of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/409655 . Accessed: 28/01/2012 05:24
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the 6th century. In John's account of the joint reign of Justinus and Tiberius (574-578 A. D.) he describes the latter's extravagance in the following words (ed. Jessie Payne Margoliouth, Semitic Study Series XIII, Leiden 1909: 14): 'So that even when he was on the sea in a darman (Gr. bpb'wv),from all sides hastened qarabhiy?(Gr. Kapa~pta with Syriac plural ending), and to all of them he threw largesses.' In this one sentence occur two Greek loan words denoting boats. There can be no question of the derivation or meaning of either. If, could be used in a Syriac work of the 6th century, we then, Kapd~tLOv must assume its common use in Greek in the 5th century, and, in accordance with Professor's Preveden's own reasoning, assume the use of in a still earlier period. Kapapos
RALPH MARCUS

Two NAVAHO PUNS

It is a well known fact, often stressed by Boas, that the American Indians do not go in for riddles and proverbs. What few exceptions have been found serve only to emphasize the rule. If to riddles and proverbs we add puns, as it seems we have a right to do, it begins to appear likely that the American Indian has a generalized lack of interest in light verbal fancy. There is plenty of metaphor in his rituals, there is considerable etymologizing ad hoc in his legends, and his oratory is famous, but the zest in quick, irresponsible reinterpretation of familiar words or phrases which lies at the bottom of the pleasure that we experience in the telling of riddles, proverbs, and puns seems strangely unIndian, whatever may be the reason. Yet puns are not entirely absent, as the two following Navaho examples show. They were collected in the summer of 1929 at Crystal, New Mexico. In a council held some time ago the leader of one of the two contending parties said,' xdct'-' ndhano"d'" 'You people decide on one thing!' A cripple who was present whispered to one near by, ndcidi"'d"''Pick me up!' The latter, catching on at once, picked up the cripple and, holding him in his arms, asked, xd-dic ndh~rc'd-' 'Where am I to put him down?' Everybody laughed. This is said to be a favorite anecdote among the Navaho and depends for its point on the double meaning of the verb n6-hd-ni- . .. -'da', which may mean either 'to decide on the matter' or 'to put him down'.
1 Grave accent (a) represents low tone, acute (d) high tone, circumflex (d) falling tone.

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A close analysis of this pun shows that it is more subtle than appears on the surface and that to enter fully into its humor requires sensitiveness to no less than three changes of linguistic front. The fundamental pun is simple and would hardly be enough by itself to raise a laugh, one suspects. This is the use of the verb stem -'d' 'to handle the "round" object' in the transferred sense of 'to handle the affair, words, plan, date, decision'. The secondary use of -'d-' (-'d) in an abstract sense is very common in Navaho, e.g. tc'6-ho-ni- . .. -'da' 'to tell'; nd-h6ni- . . -'d' 'to make the decision'; nd-hd- . . . -'d 'to make plans', -d-nd-hd- . (= -d-'da') 'a date is being set for one'. The . -t'd.' in moment the anecdote comes with the cripple's whispered tingling in addition to the very general transfer of meaning already request; for, the there is added noted, point that one does not normally use the verb nd-di- . . . -'d' 'to pick it up' (and its correlative ni-ni- . . . -'d' 'to put it down') of an animate being, but only of such inanimate 'round' objects as a potato, or apple, or watch, or rock. In other words, the wily cripple, turning his helplessness to humorous account, classifies his hunched up body as a 'round object', substitutes for ndand xd-dic ndhch'd-' substitutes ndcidi.'d.' for xd-dic cidi%1tx~-' nhidhctxz.' (-1-tx~.' 'to handle the animate being'). Had a little boy of normal physical health made the request, the pun would have seemed a bit far-fetched, for he could not easily be thought of as lifted up and put down like an inanimate object. The quick understanding by the second punster of the cripple's use of -'d' socializes the pun and kindles it into something like satire of the ponderous doings of important people. Finally, the climax of the pun, 'Where am I to put him down?', reinterprets the -hd-, which in the first usage has the meaning of something like 'the affair, circumstance', while in the second it is a personal pronoun referring to 'this one'. These two uses of -ho- are historically distinct in Athabaskan. Briefly, then, the first element of the pun is impersonally contributed, as it were, by the language itself; the second is the creation of a masochistic cripple; the third is the echoing understanding of his friend, who equates 'the great business in hand' with 'this poor chap'. The second pun is much simpler. It is told as a joke rather than as an anecdote. 'So and so has gone over there', one says. 'What for?' , apparently 'he is going to give one a kick' (future of semelxwdjdd6txds factive verb yi ctxds 'I give it a kick'), actually 'he (the medicine-man) will perform a ritual "chant"' (future of xdctxd'1'I perform a "chant"', a denominative verb based on xdtxd-1 'a ritual "chant"'). Here again

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the xwd- (= -hd- above) changes from an impersonal to a personal application. It adds to the flavor of the joke if one remembers that Navaho medicine-men are often hired to come from great distances in order to direct curing rituals and that the spaces between the scattered Navaho hogans are wide indeed. The great number of homonymous elements in Navaho, due largely to the leveling influence of phonetic laws, and its peculiarly intricate structure, which derives quite definite meanings from the assembling of elements that are generalized and colorless in themselves, combine to make Navaho a peculiarly tempting language for the punster.
EDWARD SAPIR