In Dr. Evangeline Parsons Yazzie’s Navajo 101 class, students knock on the table as part of practicing how to say “come in,” point with their lips to indicate where the nearest bathroom is and shake hands when they work on greeting one another.

This emphasis on non-verbal communication is something Parsons Yazzie has supplied in her textbook Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah, or Rediscovering the Navajo Language, published this year by Salina Bookshelf, Inc.

“All of the other textbooks I had been using were not sufficient,” Parsons-Yazzie said. “It seemed like they focused on grammar more than on communication.”

Furthermore, her textbook includes many aspects of the Navajo culture in each chapter with an explanation of how it is related to the language. Parsons-Yazzie said the cultural  information is absent from all other textbooks she has used in her 17 years teaching Navajo.

“I think the thing that is so different about this book is that I spent about a semester meeting with the elders,” Parsons-Yazzie said. “I don’t think that’s done with other Navajo language textbooks.”

In these meetings, Parsons-Yazzie would read sections of her book to the elders and then listen to their input.

“I wanted the students to know that the presence of the elders is on each page,” Parsons-Yazzie said.

Missi Norton Yazzie, a sophomore nursing major whose first language is Navajo, said the textbook is very applicable.

“A lot of the words she has in (the textbook) are words you would use every day,” Norton Yazzie said.

The book begins by presenting a verb-based introduction and an explanation of the sound system, along with indigenous vocabulary, culture and grammar.

“She does a great job of giving examples of how each alphabet would sound,” Norton Yazzie said. “Then she goes about putting them into syllables and then into words.”

Although Norton Yazzie already speaks Navajo fluently, she never learned how to write it, which is why she was drawn to the class.

“If I can speak and write Navajo, I’ll be more in control,” said Norton Yazzie. “I’d be more proud to be Navajo.”

Norton Yazzie also expressed interest in the sections of the book dealing with Navajo culture and history.

“She (Parsons-Yazzie) includes old pictures and she explains to us the treaties that were signed and information she’s gathered,” Norton Yazzie said. “She shows us some things to be proud of.”

The Navajo language developed through the spoken word, and is sometimes considered one of the most difficult languages to learn, but it shows serious risks of being lost.

A smaller and smaller portion of the younger generation of the Navajo community learns the language.

However, there are promising signs of revitalization for Navajo.

One of these signs is New Mexico’s recent adoption of Rediscovering the Navajo Language as the official Navajo language textbook for 10 of its school districts.

“We had the unmet needs of a population,” said New Mexico Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia. “We had nothing for Navajo … (And) we have the responsibility to teach language and culture in schools.”

With this step, New Mexico became the first state to have an official Native American language textbook.

Garcia said Parsons-Yazzie’s book was chosen for its “alignment to the standards of academic excellence.”

Over approximately 15 years, Parsons-Yazzie wrote and kept notes on the textbooks she was teaching from. Then, to write the book, she compiled these notes, organized them into chapters and added her additional information to them.

“I think one of the most challenging parts of writing the book was addressing the dialects,” Parsons-Yazzie said. “(I was) not wanting to impose my dialects upon the students and not wanting to present myself as the authority on the language.”

In writing the textbook, she was assisted by Margaret Speas, a professor of linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a longtime collaborator with Parsons-Yazzie. Parsons-Yazzie said Speas was extremely instrumental in helping her with the grammatical explanations of the text.

“I think once you read the book, you will sense that a Navajo academic wrote (it),” Parsons-Yazzie said. “I was very conscious of who my audience is.”

The book was published mainly for the target readership of high school and college students, but is accessible to any person looking to learn Navajo.

Rediscovering the Navajo Language includes a teacher’s guide, a workbook and a CD with the voices of Parsons-Yazzie and her brother Berlyn, a former educator in the Navajo Nation.

Parsons-Yazzie also wrote Dzání Yázhí Naazbaa’: Little Woman Warrior Who Came Home, an award-winning non-fiction book about the historic Navajo Long Walk to Fort Sumner.