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Cognates – What are they?
 Having the same origin. Related by borrowing, or
descent. Related to a verb usually derivation and serving
as its object to reinforce meaning. (Webster)
 Descended from the same original language; of the same
linguistic family. Of words: Coming naturally from the
same root, or representing the same original word, with
differences due to subsequent separate phonetic
development. (Oxford English Dictionary)
 Words that are orthographically and semantically similar
in two languages because of a shared etymology.
False Cognates
 Are pairs of words in different languages that appear to
be or sometimes are cognates when they’re really not.
 False Cognates are particularly common in core or
common vocabulary. For an example when referring to
kinship “mother” in Navajo the term that is shima can be
related to the English term mama as well. When in fact
that they are not similar or borrowed .
 Sometimes not an accurate term to use it can also
sometimes be described as a “false friend”. Though the
“false friends” tend to mean the exact opposite. For an
example is sin-song in Navajo and sin-transgression in
English.
Spanish – English
English
Spanish
Artist
Artista
Intelligent
Inteligente
Lamp
Lámpara
Magnificent
Magnífico
University
Universidad
French – English
English
French
Artist
Artiste
Intelligent
Intelligent
Lamp
Lampe
Magnificent
Magnifique
University
Université
Navajo – English
Navajo - Apache
Is there a Difference between
Cognates & Loanwords?
 Loanwords: A word adopted from a foreign
language with little or no modification.
 Cognates are two words that derive from the same
language.
 Loanwords are borrowed from a different language.
Do these words look
familiar?
How about These?
 Mandigíiya
 Naabeeho
 Wááshinidoon
 Bilasáana
 Gídí
 Jélii
 Damoógo
 Jiizis
 Gáamlii
Bibliography
 Young, R. (1912). The Navajo Verb System.
 Amengual, M. (March 30, 2011). Interlingual influence in
Bilingual Speech: Cognate Status Effect in a Continuum of
Bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 15.3,
pg. 517-530.
 Montelongo, J. A. (2011). Spanish-English Cognates and
the Dewey Decimal System. California Reader, 45(2), 11-16
 http://neohumanism.org/f/fa/false_cognate.html
 http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american
/false-cognate