various things

Claiming the most speakers of any Native American language north of the U.S.-Mexican border, Navajo is a significant, but often overlooked part of American culture. However, despite boasting a large number of speakers, Navajos fluent population amongst younger generations is in decline. With this in mind, the need to preserve this language and culture is urgent and needs to be recognized in order to help curtail this diminution. One way to help with this preservation would be to examine some of its unique linguistic aspects such as fourth-person point of view, or also known as polite speech. Moreover, the examination of polite speech will also evince some cultural aspects of Navajo, that are absent in the English-speaking culture. Here, by looking at Navajo in both linguistic and cultural contexts, we will demonstrate the uniqueness and significance of Navajo in American culture.
Once we were fully in, I was instantly overcome with the mustiness that the funeral home was saturated with, which upon first breath gave me a headache. Dylan’s parents were still talking to some people, so we stood back in the lobby to wait for them to finsih. About fifteen feet away from us was Dylan’s grandparents and aunt and uncle standing together. They were talking quietly and had the same despairing look on their face as Dylan’s mom did. The uncle, who was a husky man with a crew cut—reminiscent of a man in the military—, was the only one crying out of all four of them. He was pinching his tear ducts towards his nose with his thumb and index finger as though putting pressure on them would prevent the tears from coming out. “I should have spent more time with him”. He said, looking down, and sucking in short bursts of air through his nose so no snot would drip out. “I should have warned him about drugs and that you don’t mess around with them.” Then his wife started to rub him tenderly on the back “It’s ok honey, you didn’t know. There’s nothing you can do about it.”