The Navajo-Churro , or Churro for short, (also American or Navajo Four-Horned ) is a breed of domestic sheep originating with the Spanish Churra sheep obtained by the Diné around the 16th century during the Spanish Conquest . Its wool consists of a protective topcoat and soft undercoat. Some rams have four fully developed horns, a trait shared with few other breeds in the world. The breed is highly resistant to disease. Ewes often birth twins , and they have good mothering instincts. This breed is raised primarily for wool, although some also eat their meat.
101-432: The common Diné word for the breed, Dibé dits’ozí , means "long fleeced sheep." T’áá Dibé is also occasionally used, meaning "first sheep." The churro is important to Diné subsistence and culture. The Spanish Churra (renamed Churro by American frontiersmen) was first imported to North America in 1598 by Juan de Oñate and used to feed Spanish armies and settlers. By the 17th century, Churros were popular with
202-449: A Super Bowl had been carried in a Native American language. In 2013, the 1977 film Star Wars was translated into Navajo. It was the first major motion picture translated into any Native American language. On October 5, 2018, an early beta of a Navajo course was released on Duolingo , a popular language learning app. After many Navajo schools were closed during World War II, a program aiming to provide education to Navajo children
303-503: A glottalic initiation . Navajo also has a simple glottal stop used after vowels, and every word that would otherwise begin with a vowel is pronounced with an initial glottal stop. Consonant clusters are uncommon, aside from frequent placing /d/ or /t/ before fricatives . The language has four vowel qualities: /a/ , /e/ , /i/ , and /o/ . Each exists in both oral and nasalized forms, and can be either short or long. Navajo also distinguishes for tone between high and low, with
404-541: A root to identify the action and the semblance of a suffix to convey mode and aspect ; however, this suffix is fused beyond separability. The stem is given somewhat more transparent prefixes to indicate, in this order, the following information: postpositional object, postposition, adverb-state, iterativity , number , direct object , deictic information, another adverb-state, mode and aspect, subject, classifier (see later on), mirativity and two-tier evidentiality . Some of these prefixes may be null; for example, there
505-449: A subject–object–verb language. However, some speakers order the subject and object based on "noun ranking". In this system, nouns are ranked in three categories—humans, animals, and inanimate objects—and within these categories, nouns are ranked by strength, size, and intelligence. Whichever of the subject and object has a higher rank comes first. As a result, the agent of an action may be syntactically ambiguous. The highest rank position
606-498: A "j" despite his personal objections. The Navajo refer to themselves as the Diné ('People'), with their language known as Diné bizaad ('People's language') or Naabeehó bizaad . Navajo is an Athabaskan language ; Navajo and Apache languages make up the southernmost branch of the family. Most of the other Athabaskan languages are located in Alaska, northwestern Canada, and along
707-448: A bath in warm water or as complicated as an industrial process using detergent and alkali in specialized equipment. In north west England , special potash pits were constructed to produce potash used in the manufacture of a soft soap for scouring locally produced white wool. Vegetable matter in commercial wool is often removed by chemical carbonization . In less-processed wools, vegetable matter may be removed by hand and some of
808-498: A code based on Navajo. The language was considered ideal because of its grammar, which differs strongly from that of German and Japanese , and because no published Navajo dictionaries existed at the time. By the 1960s, Indigenous languages of the United States had been declining in use for some time. Native American language use began to decline more quickly in this decade as paved roads were built and English-language radio
909-400: A dual coat, which has an inner and an outer layer. The fleece is composed of an inner coat (80% of fleece), and outer coat that is hair fibers (10-20% of fleece) and kemp (a coarse, opaque fiber, less than 5% of fleece). The fleece color is separated from the points color. The fleece can often change from lamb to adulthood. Blacks, for instance, often white out with age. The meat is lean with
1010-484: A fairly high percentage overall but less than among other Americans speaking a different Native American language (85.4 percent). Navajo was the only Native American language afforded its own category in the survey; domestic Navajo speakers represented 46.4 percent of all domestic Native language speakers (only 195,407 Americans have a different home Native language). As of July 2014, Ethnologue classes Navajo as "6b" (In Trouble), signifying that few, but some, parents teach
1111-488: A fairly large phonemic inventory, including several consonants that are not found in English. Its four basic vowel qualities are distinguished for nasality , length , and tone . Navajo has both agglutinative and fusional elements: it uses affixes to modify verbs, and nouns are typically created from multiple morphemes, but in both cases these morphemes are fused irregularly and beyond easy recognition. Basic word order
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#17327659848031212-505: A fiber that holds longevity and durability over synthetic materials, while retaining its shape. In December 2004, a bale of the then world's finest wool, averaging 11.8 microns, sold for AU$ 3,000 per kilogram at auction in Melbourne . This fleece wool tested with an average yield of 74.5%, 68 mm (2.7 in) long, and had 40 newtons per kilotex strength. The result was A$ 279,000 for the bale. The finest bale of wool ever auctioned
1313-515: A healthy speaker base, although this problem has been alleviated to some extent by extensive education programs in the Navajo Nation. In World War II, speakers of the Navajo language joined the military and developed a code for sending secret messages. These code talkers ' messages are widely credited with saving many lives and winning some of the most decisive battles in the war. Navajo has
1414-559: A low fat content. Meat may be eaten for sustenance, or it may be used in traditional medicine. Navajo-Churros are listed by The Livestock Conservancy as critical. They are also part of the Ark of Taste , a list of endangered heritage foods catalogued by Slow Food . Navajo language Navajo or Navaho ( / ˈ n æ v ə h oʊ , ˈ n ɑː v ə -/ NAV -ə-hoh, NAH -və- ; Navajo: Diné bizaad [tìnépìz̥ɑ̀ːt] or Naabeehó bizaad [nɑ̀ːpèːhópìz̥ɑ̀ːt] )
1515-403: A major language dictionary published that same year, and continued to work on studying and documenting the language in major works for the next few decades. Today an AM radio station, KTNN , broadcasts in Navajo and English, with programming including music and NFL games; AM station KNDN broadcasts only in Navajo. When Super Bowl XXX was broadcast in Navajo in 1996, it was the first time
1616-531: A military word, code talkers used descriptive words. For example, the Navajo did not have a word for submarine , so they translated it as iron fish . These Navajo code talkers are widely recognized for their contributions to WWII. Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division Signal Officer stated, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." Navajo lands were initially colonized by
1717-410: A sheep is known as "raw wool", "greasy wool" or "wool in the grease". This wool contains a high level of valuable lanolin , as well as the sheep's dead skin and sweat residue, and generally also contains pesticides and vegetable matter from the animal's environment. Before the wool can be used for commercial purposes, it must be scoured, a process of cleaning the greasy wool. Scouring may be as simple as
1818-773: A small percentage of lipids . This makes it chemically quite distinct from cotton and other plant fibers, which are mainly cellulose. Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the upper layer of the skin called the epidermis and push down into the second skin layer called the dermis as the wool fibers grow. Follicles can be classed as either primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber: kemp , medullated fibers, and true wool fibers. Secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp and elasticity. Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out. Wool's crimp refers to
1919-413: A trait of fusional languages. In general, Navajo verbs contain more morphemes than nouns do (on average, 11 for verbs compared to 4–5 for nouns), but noun morphology is less transparent. Depending on the source, Navajo is either classified as a fusional agglutinative or even polysynthetic language, as it shows mechanisms from all three. In terms of basic word order , Navajo has been classified as
2020-462: A wet diaper by inhibiting wicking, so outer garments remain dry. Wool felted and treated with lanolin is water resistant, air permeable, and slightly antibacterial, so it resists the buildup of odor. Some modern cloth diapers use felted wool fabric for covers, and there are several modern commercial knitting patterns for wool diaper covers. Initial studies of woollen underwear have found it prevented heat and sweat rashes because it more readily absorbs
2121-496: A wool product and subsequently reduced to a fibrous state without having been used by the ultimate consumer". "Reused wool" refers to such wool that has been used by the ultimate consumer. Wild sheep were more hairy than woolly. Although sheep were domesticated some 9,000 to 11,000 years ago, archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, with
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#17327659848032222-557: Is subject–object–verb , though it is highly flexible to pragmatic factors. Verbs are conjugated for aspect and mood , and given affixes for the person and number of both subjects and objects , as well as a host of other variables. The language's orthography , which was developed in the late 1930s, is based on the Latin script . Most Navajo vocabulary is Athabaskan in origin, as the language has been conservative with loanwords due to its highly complex noun morphology. The word Navajo
2323-554: Is "the fiber from the fleece of the sheep or lamb or hair of the Angora or Cashmere goat (and may include the so-called specialty fibers from the hair of the camel, alpaca, llama, and vicuna) which has never been reclaimed from any woven or felted wool product". " Virgin wool " and " new wool " are also used to refer to such never used wool. There are two categories of recycled wool (also called reclaimed or shoddy wool). "Reprocessed wool" identifies "wool which has been woven or felted into
2424-746: Is a Southern Athabaskan language of the Na-Dené family (proposed only), as are other languages spoken across the western areas of North America . Navajo is spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States , especially in the Navajo Nation . It is one of the most widely spoken Native American languages and is the most widely spoken north of the Mexico–United States border , with almost 170,000 Americans speaking Navajo at home as of 2011. The language has struggled to keep
2525-557: Is a strong, long- staple , combed wool yarn with a hard surface. Woolen is a soft, short-staple, carded wool yarn typically used for knitting. In traditional weaving, woolen weft yarn (for softness and warmth) is frequently combined with a worsted warp yarn for strength on the loom. In addition to clothing, wool has been used for blankets , suits , horse rugs , saddle cloths, carpeting , insulation and upholstery. Dyed wool can be used to create other forms of art such as wet and needle felting. Wool felt covers piano hammers, and it
2626-526: Is an exonym : it comes from the Tewa word Navahu , which combines the roots nava ('field') and hu ('valley') to mean 'large field'. It was borrowed into Spanish to refer to an area of present-day northwestern New Mexico , and later into English for the Navajo tribe and their language. The alternative spelling Navaho is considered antiquated; even the anthropologist Berard Haile spelled it with
2727-464: Is determined by a technique known as wool classing , whereby a qualified person, called a wool classer, groups wools of similar grading together to maximize the return for the farmer or sheep owner. In Australia, before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for average diameter ( micron ), yield (including the amount of vegetable matter ), staple length, staple strength, and sometimes color and comfort factor. Wool straight off
2828-594: Is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown, silver, and random mixes. Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers . It has a lower rate of flame spread , a lower rate of heat release, a lower heat of combustion , and does not melt or drip; it forms a char that is insulating and self-extinguishing, and it contributes less to toxic gases and smoke than other flooring products when used in carpets. Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool
2929-406: Is held by humans and lightning. Other linguists such as Eloise Jelinek consider Navajo to be a discourse configurational language , in which word order is not fixed by syntactic rules, but determined by pragmatic factors in the communicative context. In Navajo, verbs are the main elements of their sentences, imparting a large amount of information. The verb is based on a stem , which is made of
3030-466: Is limited in supply and much of it comes from New Zealand and Australia. Organic wool has become easier to find in clothing and other products, but these products often carry a higher price. Wool is environmentally preferable (as compared to petroleum-based nylon or polypropylene ) as a material for carpets , as well, in particular when combined with a natural binding and the use of formaldehyde -free glues. Animal rights groups have noted issues with
3131-611: Is mandatory: Béégashii cow sitį́. 3 . SUBJ -lie( 1 ). PERF Béégashii sitį́. cow 3.SUBJ-lie( 1 ).PERF 'The (one) cow lies.' Béégashii cow shitéézh. 3 . SUBJ -lie( 2 ). PERF Wool This is an accepted version of this page Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals , especially goats , rabbits , and camelids . The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool , that have some properties similar to animal wool. As an animal fiber , wool consists of protein together with
Navajo-Churro - Misplaced Pages Continue
3232-627: Is more common in rams, the polycerate trait appears in ewes as well. This is because they possess a mutation on the HOXD1 gene, a mutation also found in old heritage breeds like the Jacob Sheep . Churros come in a variety of colors, including reds, browns, black, white, and mixes, and color may change with age. The color is separated into the fleece color and the points color (legs and head). The sheep may also have different color patterns, such as eye patches and hip spots. The Navajo-Churros possess
3333-534: Is most closely related to Western Apache , with which it shares a similar tonal scheme and more than 92 percent of its vocabulary, and to Chiricahua-Mescalero Apache . It is estimated that the Apachean linguistic groups separated and became established as distinct societies, of which the Navajo were one, somewhere between 1300 and 1525. Navajo is generally considered mutually intelligible with all other Apachean languages. The Apachean languages, of which Navajo
3434-533: Is one, are thought to have arrived in the American Southwest from the north by 1500, probably passing through Alberta and Wyoming. Archaeological finds considered to be proto-Navajo have been located in the far northern New Mexico around the La Plata, Animas and Pine rivers, dating to around 1500. In 1936, linguist Edward Sapir showed how the arrival of the Navajo people in the new arid climate among
3535-405: Is only a plural marker ( da/daa ) and no readily identifiable marker for the other grammatical numbers. Navajo does not distinguish strict tense per se; instead, an action's position in time is conveyed through mode, aspect, but also via time adverbials or context. Each verb has an inherent aspect and can be conjugated in up to seven modes. For any verb, the usitative and iterative modes share
3636-415: Is pooled in a local market area, but sold through a wool warehouse. Wool offered with objective measurement test results is preferred. Imported apparel wool and carpet wool goes directly to central markets, where it is handled by the large merchants and manufacturers. Shoddy or recycled wool is made by cutting or tearing apart existing wool fabric and respinning the resulting fibers. As this process makes
3737-504: Is processed into 'top'. 'Worsted top' requires strong straight and parallel fibres. The quality of wool is determined by its fiber diameter, crimp , yield, color, and staple strength. Fiber diameter is the single most important wool characteristic determining quality and price. Merino wool is typically 90–115 mm (3.5–4.5 in) in length and is very fine (between 12 and 24 microns). The finest and most valuable wool comes from Merino hoggets . Wool taken from sheep produced for meat
3838-554: Is the marker of the Continuative aspect (to play about). Navajo distinguishes between the first, second, third, and fourth persons in the singular, dual, and plural numbers. The fourth person is similar to the third person, but is generally used for indefinite, theoretical actors rather than defined ones. Despite the potential for extreme verb complexity, only the mode/aspect, subject, classifier, and stem are absolutely necessary. Furthermore, Navajo negates clauses by surrounding
3939-412: Is typically coarser, and has fibers 40–150 mm (1.5–6 in) in length. Damage or breaks in the wool can occur if the sheep is stressed while it is growing its fleece, resulting in a thin spot where the fleece is likely to break. Wool is also separated into grades based on the measurement of the wool's diameter in microns and also its style. These grades may vary depending on the breed or purpose of
4040-425: Is used to absorb odors and noise in heavy machinery and stereo speakers. Ancient Greeks lined their helmets with felt, and Roman legionnaires used breastplates made of wool felt. Wool as well as cotton has also been traditionally used for cloth diapers . Wool fiber exteriors are hydrophobic (repel water) and the interior of the wool fiber is hygroscopic (attracts water); this makes a wool garment suitable cover for
4141-401: Is usually encoded directly in the verb through the use of various prefixes or aspects, though this is by no means mandatory. In the following example, the verb on the right is used with the plural prefix da- and switches to the distributive aspect. Some verbal roots encode number in their lexical definition (see classificatory verbs above). When available, the use of the correct verbal root
Navajo-Churro - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-402: Is usually specified for garments for firefighters, soldiers, and others in occupations where they are exposed to the likelihood of fire. Wool causes an allergic reaction in some people. Sheep shearing is the process in which a worker (a shearer ) cuts off the woollen fleece of a sheep. After shearing, wool-classers separate the wool into four main categories: The quality of fleeces
4343-550: Is usually used for making carpets. In the United States, Texas , New Mexico , and Colorado have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or French Merino). Also, a thriving home-flock contingent of small-scale farmers raise small hobby flocks of specialty sheep for the hand-spinning market. These small-scale farmers offer a wide selection of fleece. Global woolclip (total amount of wool shorn) 2020 Organic wool has gained in popularity. This wool
4444-555: The Arte della Lana , the wool guild: wool textile interests guided Florentine policies. Francesco Datini , the "merchant of Prato", established in 1383 an Arte della Lana for that small Tuscan city. The sheepwalks of Castile were controlled by the Mesta union of sheep owners. They shaped the landscape and the fortunes of the meseta that lies in the heart of the Iberian peninsula; in
4545-466: The Champagne fairs revolved around the production of wool cloth in small centers such as Provins . The network developed by the annual fairs meant the woolens of Provins might find their way to Naples , Sicily, Cyprus , Majorca , Spain, and even Constantinople . The wool trade developed into serious business, a generator of capital. In the 13th century, the wool trade became the economic engine of
4646-699: The Low Countries and central Italy. By the end of the 14th century, Italy predominated. The Florentine wool guild , Arte della Lana , sent the imported English wool to the San Martino convent for processing. Italian wool from Abruzzo and Spanish merino wools were processed at Garbo workshops . Abruzzo wool had once been the most accessible for the Florentine guild, until improved relations with merchants in Iberia made merino wool more available. By
4747-521: The Navajo Livestock Reduction , intended to reduce the amount of sheep and horses on Diné lands. Tens of thousands of Churro sheep were slaughtered, and their numbers dwindled. The Livestock Conservancy estimated that less than 450 Churros remained by the 1970s. This reduction of the flocks drove many Diné ranchers into poverty. Many Diné who had traditionally lived off of the land and agriculture turned to wage work. Restoration of
4848-660: The Spanish in the early seventeenth century, shortly after this area was annexed as part of the Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain . When the United States annexed these territories in 1848 following the Mexican–American War , the English-speaking settlers allowed Navajo children to attend their schools. In some cases, the United States established separate schools for Navajo and other Native American children. In
4949-465: The 16th century Italian wool exports to the Levant had declined, eventually replaced by silk production. The value of exports of English raw wool were rivaled only by the 15th-century sheepwalks of Castile and were a significant source of income to the English crown, which in 1275 had imposed an export tax on wool called the "Great Custom". The importance of wool to the English economy can be seen in
5050-569: The 16th century, a unified Spain allowed export of Merino lambs only with royal permission. The German wool market – based on sheep of Spanish origin – did not overtake British wool until comparatively late. Later, the Industrial Revolution introduced mass production technology into wool and wool cloth manufacturing. Australia's colonial economy was based on sheep raising, and the Australian wool trade eventually overtook that of
5151-431: The 1970s onward: I said, "Why are you crying for grandpa?" He said, "It's been a long time since I've seen these sheep. I'm so happy that they're here again." Churros are small sheep with long, thin tails, horizontal ears, and a double coat. Ewes are 40–60 kg (88–132 lb), while rams are 55–85 kg (121–187 lb). The sheep are long-lived and can be productive for up to 15 years. An ideal Churro, according to
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#17327659848035252-505: The Diné. As such, flocks of sheep traditionally belonged to women and were passed from a mother to her children. Children learned to tend the sheep at a young age. The specific Churro breed, as opposed to sheep in general, is an important part of Diné cultural identity. Elders in particular remembered the Churro flocks from the early 20th century. Some were overjoyed to see the revitalization from
5353-628: The European population; cotton from India was a curiosity of which only naturalists had heard, and silks, imported along the Silk Road from China, were extravagant luxury goods . Pliny the Elder records in his Natural History that the reputation for producing the finest wool was enjoyed by Tarentum , where selective breeding had produced sheep with superior fleeces, but which required special care. In medieval times, as trade connections expanded,
5454-542: The Germans by 1845, furnishing wool for Bradford , which developed as the heart of industrialized woolens production. Due to decreasing demand with increased use of synthetic fibers, wool production is much less than what it was in the past. The collapse in the price of wool began in late 1966 with a 40% drop; with occasional interruptions, the price has tended down. The result has been sharply reduced production and movement of resources into production of other commodities, in
5555-541: The Navajo Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs , developed and published a practical orthography in 1937. It helped spread education among Navajo speakers. In 1943 the men collaborated on The Navajo Language , a dictionary organized by the roots of the language. In World War II , the United States military used speakers of Navajo as code talkers —to transmit top-secret military messages over telephone and radio in
5656-409: The Navajo language to relay secret messages. At the end of the war the code remained unbroken. The code used Navajo words for each letter of the English alphabet. Messages could be encoded and decoded by using a simple substitution cipher where the ciphertext was the Navajo word. Type two code was informal and directly translated from English into Navajo. If there was no word in Navajo to describe
5757-596: The Navajo language, and no English, while five English language teachers instruct in the English language. Kindergarten and first grade are taught completely in the Navajo language, while English is incorporated into the program during third grade, when it is used for about 10% of instruction. According to the Navajo Nation Education Policies, the Navajo Tribal Council requests that schools teach both English and Navajo so that
5858-467: The Navajo word for "corn" is naadą́ą́ʼ , derived from two Proto-Athabaskan roots meaning "enemy" and "food", suggesting that the Navajo originally considered corn to be "food of the enemy" when they first arrived among the Pueblo people. During World Wars I and II, the U.S. government employed speakers of the Navajo language as Navajo code talkers . These Navajo soldiers and sailors used a code based on
5959-967: The North American Pacific coast. Most languages in the Athabaskan family have tones . However, this feature evolved independently in all subgroups; Proto-Athabaskan had no tones. In each case, tone evolved from glottalic consonants at the ends of morphemes; however, the progression of these consonants into tones has not been consistent, with some related morphemes being pronounced with high tones in some Athabaskan languages and low tones in others. It has been posited that Navajo and Chipewyan , which have no common ancestor more recent than Proto-Athabaskan and possess many pairs of corresponding but opposite tones, evolved from different dialects of Proto-Athabaskan that pronounced these glottalic consonants differently. Proto-Athabaskan diverged fully into separate languages c. 500 BC . Navajo
6060-561: The Spanish settlers in the upper Rio Grande Valley. The Diné acquired Churro flocks by trading. The Churro soon became an important part of the Diné economy and culture. The Navajo bred sheep to adapt to a pastoral lifestyle in a harsh desert environment. During the Navajo Wars , American soldier Kit Carson instructed his troops to destroy Navajo crops and kill their livestock, including the Churro sheep, in 1863. They killed thousands of sheep. Some small clusters in remote canyons survived
6161-472: The animal's back. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur: it is crimped and elastic . The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers. A fine wool like Merino may have up to 40 crimps per centimetre (100 crimps per inch), while coarser wool like karakul may have less than one (one or two crimps per inch). In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, and little ability to bind into yarn . On sheep,
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#17327659848036262-510: The assistance of Sally Midgette (Navajo). This work is organized by root , the basis of Athabaskan languages. A 1991 survey of 682 preschoolers on the Navajo Reservation Head Start program found that 54 percent were monolingual English speakers, 28 percent were bilingual in English and Navajo, and 18 percent spoke only Navajo. This study noted that while the preschool staff knew both languages, they spoke English to
6363-459: The attack. The entire Navajo nation was then forced to march to a reservation. The Navajo nation and the US government signed Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 1868, allowing the Navajo to return to their homeland. As part of the agreement, the US government provided sheep to the Navajo; however, these breeds were unfamiliar and contaminated the Churro sheep line. In the 1930s, the US government implemented
6464-589: The breed began in the 1970s when breeders began acquiring Churro phenotypes with the purpose of preserving the breed and revitalizing Diné and Hispanic flocks. The Navajo Sheep Project, headed by Lyle McNeal, was the first organization to start a breeding program. While the Navajo-Churro breed is no longer in danger of extinction , it is still considered a rare breed. There were over 8,000 head of Navajo-Churro sheep in 2022. Diné weavers have used Churro wool to make rugs, wall hangings, and other products since
6565-461: The breed standard, has a bare face, bare legs, and a mostly bare belly. The sheep are hardy with light bones, narrow bodies, and long legs. They do not reach their full-grown size until well into their second year. Most rams have horns, either two or four. Rams may also have scurs or be polled . Ewes are more likely to have scurs or be polled; however, they may also have two or four horns. Sheep with more than two horns are polycerate . Although this
6666-455: The case of sheep growers, to production of meat. Superwash wool (or washable wool) technology first appeared in the early 1970s to produce wool that has been specially treated so it is machine washable and may be tumble-dried. This wool is produced using an acid bath that removes the "scales" from the fiber, or by coating the fiber with a polymer that prevents the scales from attaching to each other and causing shrinkage. This process results in
6767-478: The centers of the textile trade, the manufacturing process came to be subdivided into a collection of trades, overseen by an entrepreneur in a system called by the English the "putting-out" system, or "cottage industry", and the Verlagssystem by the Germans. In this system of producing wool cloth, once perpetuated in the production of Harris tweeds , the entrepreneur provides the raw materials and an advance,
6868-496: The chance to establish their own bilingual education programs. However, qualified teachers who were fluent in Native languages were scarce, and these programs were largely unsuccessful. However, data collected in 1980 showed that 85 percent of Navajo first-graders were bilingual, compared to 62 percent of Navajo of all ages—early evidence of a resurgence of use of their traditional language among younger people. In 1984, to counteract
6969-469: The children most of the time. In addition, most of the children's parents spoke to the children in English more often than in Navajo. The study concluded that the preschoolers were in "almost total immersion in English". An American Community Survey taken in 2011 found that 169,369 Americans spoke Navajo at home—0.3 percent of Americans whose primary home language was not English. Of primary Navajo speakers, 78.8 percent reported they spoke English "very well",
7070-558: The children would remain bilingual, though their influence over the school systems was very low. A small number of preschool programs provided the Navajo immersion curriculum, which taught children basic Navajo vocabulary and grammar under the assumption that they have no prior knowledge in the Navajo language. Navajo has a fairly large consonant inventory. Its stop consonants exist in three laryngeal forms: aspirated , unaspirated, and ejective —for example, /tʃʰ/ , /tʃ/ , and /tʃʼ/ . Ejective consonants are those that are pronounced with
7171-512: The corn agriculturalists of the Pueblo area was reflected in their language by tracing the changing meanings of words from Proto-Athabaskan to Navajo. For example, the word * dè: , which in Proto-Athabaskan meant "horn" and "dipper made from animal horn", in Navajo became a-deeʼ, which meant "gourd" or "dipper made from gourd". Likewise, the Proto-Athabaskan word * ł-yəx̣s "snow lies on the ground" in Navajo became yas "snow". Similarly,
7272-572: The earliest woven wool garments having only been dated to two to three thousand years later. Woolly sheep were introduced into Europe from the Near East in the early part of the 4th millennium BC. The oldest known European wool textile, c. 1500 BC , was preserved in a Danish bog . Prior to invention of shears—probably in the Iron Age —the wool was plucked out by hand or by bronze combs. In Roman times, wool, linen , and leather clothed
7373-579: The fact that since the 14th century, the presiding officer of the House of Lords has sat on the " Woolsack ", a chair stuffed with wool. Economies of scale were instituted in the Cistercian houses, which had accumulated great tracts of land during the 12th and early 13th centuries, when land prices were low and labor still scarce. Raw wool was baled and shipped from North Sea ports to the textile cities of Flanders , notably Ypres and Ghent , where it
7474-457: The global textile market, but its value is higher owing to dyeing and other modifications of the material. Australia is a leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep but has been eclipsed by China in terms of total weight. New Zealand (2016) is the third-largest producer of wool, and the largest producer of crossbred wool. Breeds such as Lincoln , Romney , Drysdale , and Elliotdale produce coarser fibers, and wool from these sheep
7575-458: The hair part of the fleece is called kemp . The relative amounts of kemp to wool vary from breed to breed and make some fleeces more desirable for spinning , felting , or carding into batts for quilts or other insulating products, including the famous tweed cloth of Scotland . Wool fibers readily absorb moisture , but are not hollow. Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics. It
7676-416: The language to their offspring and that concerted efforts at revitalization could easily protect the language. Navajo had a high population for a language in this category. About half of all Navajo people live on Navajo Nation land, an area spanning parts of Arizona , New Mexico , and Utah ; others are dispersed throughout the United States. Under tribal law, fluency in Navajo is mandatory for candidates to
7777-485: The language's historical decline, the Navajo Nation Council decreed that the Navajo language would be available and comprehensive for students of all grade levels in schools of the Navajo Nation . This effort was aided by the fact that, largely due to the work of Young and Morgan, Navajo is one of the best-documented Native American languages. In 1980 they published a monumental expansion of their work on
7878-657: The language, organized by word (first initial of vowel or consonant) in the pattern of English dictionaries, as requested by Navajo students. The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary also included a 400-page grammar, making it invaluable for both native speakers and students of the language. Particularly in its organization of verbs, it was oriented to Navajo speakers. They expanded this work again in 1987, with several significant additions, and this edition continues to be used as an important text. The Native American language education movement has been met with adversity, such as by English-only campaigns in some areas in
7979-650: The lanolin left intact through the use of gentler detergents. This semigrease wool can be worked into yarn and knitted into particularly water-resistant mittens or sweaters , such as those of the Aran Island fishermen. Lanolin removed from wool is widely used in cosmetic products such as hand creams . Raw wool has many impurities; vegetable matter, sand, dirt and yolk which is a mixture of suint (sweat), grease, urine stains and dung locks. The sheep's body yields many types of wool with differing strengths, thicknesses, length of staple and impurities. The raw wool (greasy)
8080-465: The late 1600s. The sheep naturally produce wool in fourteen colors, so weavers can produce complex colorwork without needing to dye the wool. The yarn produced from the wool is durable, coarse, and non-pilling. Many Diné through the early 20th century made their livelihood in farming and ranching. Woven products, such as rugs and blankets, were and continue to be important exports. Carding wool, spinning yarn, and weaving are traditionally women's work among
8181-469: The late 1990s. However, Navajo-immersion programs have cropped up across the Navajo Nation. Statistical evidence shows that Navajo-immersion students generally do better on standardized tests than their counterparts educated only in English. Some educators have remarked that students who know their native languages feel a sense of pride and identity validation. Since 1989, Diné College , a Navajo tribal community college , has offered an associate degree in
8282-552: The late 19th century, it founded boarding schools, often operated by religious missionary groups. In efforts to acculturate the children, school authorities insisted that they learn to speak English and practice Christianity. Students routinely had their mouths washed out with lye soap as a punishment if they did speak Navajo. Consequently, when these students grew up and had children of their own, they often did not teach them Navajo, in order to prevent them from being punished. Robert W. Young and William Morgan , who both worked for
8383-530: The low tone typically regarded as the default. However, some linguists have suggested that Navajo does not possess true tones, but only a pitch accent system similar to that of Japanese . In general, Navajo speech also has a slower speech tempo than English does. Navajo is difficult to classify in terms of broad morphological typology : it relies heavily on affixes —mainly prefixes—like agglutinative languages, but these affixes are joined in unpredictable, overlapping ways that make them difficult to segment,
8484-413: The microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together. Felting generally comes under two main areas, dry felting and wet felting. Wet felting occurs when water and a lubricant (especially an alkali such as soap) are applied to the wool which is then agitated until the fibers mix and bond together. Temperature shock while damp or wet accentuates the felting process. Some natural felting can occur on
8585-655: The number of monolingual Navajo speakers have been in the decline, and most younger Navajo people are bilingual. Near the 1990s, many Navajo children have little to no knowledge in Navajo language, only knowing English. In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Bilingual Education Act , which provided funds for educating young students who are not native English speakers. The Act had mainly been intended for Spanish-speaking children—particularly Mexican Americans —but it applied to all recognized linguistic minorities. Many Native American tribes seized
8686-663: The office of the President of the Navajo Nation . Both original and translated media have been produced in Navajo. The first works tended to be religious texts translated by missionaries, including the Bible. From 1943 to about 1957, the Navajo Agency of the BIA published Ádahooníłígíí ("Events" ), the first newspaper in Navajo and the only one to be written entirely in Navajo. It was edited by Robert W. Young and William Morgan, Sr. (Navajo). They had collaborated on The Navajo Language ,
8787-623: The production of wool, such as mulesing . About 85% of wool sold in Australia is sold by open cry auction . The British Wool Marketing Board operates a central marketing system for UK fleece wool with the aim of achieving the best possible net returns for farmers. Less than half of New Zealand's wool is sold at auction, while around 45% of farmers sell wool directly to private buyers and end-users. United States sheep producers market wool with private or cooperative wool warehouses, but wool pools are common in many states. In some cases, wool
8888-594: The remainder being paid upon delivery of the product. Written contracts bound the artisans to specified terms. Fernand Braudel traces the appearance of the system in the 13th-century economic boom, quoting a document of 1275. The system effectively bypassed the guilds' restrictions. Before the flowering of the Renaissance , the Medici and other great banking houses of Florence had built their wealth and banking system on their textile industry based on wool, overseen by
8989-575: The same stem, as do the progressive and future modes; these modes are distinguished with prefixes. However, pairs of modes other than these may also share the same stem, as illustrated in the following example, where the verb "to play" is conjugated into each of the five mode paradigms: The basic set of subject prefixes for the imperfective mode, as well as the actual conjugation of the verb into these person and number categories, are as follows. The remaining piece of these conjugated verbs—the prefix na- —is called an "outer" or "disjunct" prefix. It
9090-629: The strong natural wave present in each wool fiber as it is presented on the animal. Wool's crimp, and to a lesser degree scales, make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach, so they stay together. Because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a high specific thermal resistance , so it impedes heat transfer in general. This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation. The felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as
9191-451: The subject of Navajo. This program includes language, literature, culture, medical terminology, and teaching courses and produces the highest number of Navajo teachers of any institution in the United States. About 600 students attend per semester. One major university that teaches classes in the Navajo language is Arizona State University . In 1992, Young and Morgan published another major work on Navajo: Analytical Lexicon of Navajo , with
9292-592: The top level of fineness, character, color, and style as determined on the basis of a series of parameters in accordance with the original dictates of British wool as applied by the Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) Council. Only a few dozen of the millions of bales auctioned every year can be classified and marked 1PP. In the United States, three classifications of wool are named in the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939. Wool
9393-559: The verb with the circum clitic doo= ... =da (e.g. mósí doo nitsaa da 'the cat is not big'). Dooda , as a single word, corresponds to English no . Nouns are not required to form a complete Navajo sentence. Besides the extensive information that can be communicated with a verb, Navajo speakers may alternate between the third and fourth person to distinguish between two already specified actors, similarly to how speakers of languages with grammatical gender may repeatedly use pronouns. Most nouns are not inflected for number, and plurality
9494-498: The wool fibers shorter, the remanufactured fabric is inferior to the original. The recycled wool may be mixed with raw wool, wool noil , or another fiber such as cotton to increase the average fiber length. Such yarns are typically used as weft yarns with a cotton warp . This process was invented in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire and created a microeconomy in this area for many years. Worsted
9595-418: The wool. For example: Any wool finer than 25 microns can be used for garments, while coarser grades are used for outerwear or rugs. The finer the wool, the softer it is, while coarser grades are more durable and less prone to pilling . The finest Australian and New Zealand Merino wools are known as 1PP, which is the industry benchmark of excellence for Merino wool 16.9 microns and finer. This style represents
9696-542: Was at one time punishable by the cutting off of a hand. After the Restoration , fine English woolens began to compete with silks in the international market, partly aided by the Navigation Acts ; in 1699, the English crown forbade its American colonies to trade wool with anyone but England herself. A great deal of the value of woollen textiles was in the dyeing and finishing of the woven product. In each of
9797-463: Was broadcast to tribal areas. Navajo was no exception, although its large speaker pool—larger than that of any other Native language in the United States—gave it more staying power than most. Adding to the language's decline, federal acts passed in the 1950s to increase educational opportunities for Navajo children had resulted in pervasive use of English in their schools. In more recent years,
9898-717: Was developed using Australian Merino wool, and it enables woven products made from wool, such as suits, trousers, and skirts, to be cleaned using a domestic shower at home. In December 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres , so as to raise the profile of wool and other natural fibers . Global wool production is about 2 million tonnes (2.2 million short tons) per year, of which 60% goes into apparel. Wool comprises ca 3% of
9999-479: Was dyed and worked up as cloth. At the time of the Black Death , English textile industries consumed about 10% of English wool production. The English textile trade grew during the 15th century, to the point where export of wool was discouraged. Over the centuries, various British laws controlled the wool trade or required the use of wool even in burials. The smuggling of wool out of the country, known as owling ,
10100-799: Was funded in the 1950s, where the number of students quickly doubled in the next decade. The Navajo Nation operates Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta', a Navajo language immersion school for grades K-8 in Fort Defiance, Arizona . Located on the Arizona-New Mexico border in the southeastern quarter of the Navajo Reservation , the school strives to revitalize Navajo among children of the Window Rock Unified School District . Tséhootsooí Diné Bi'ólta' has thirteen Navajo language teachers who instruct only in
10201-596: Was sold for a seasonal record of AU$ 2690 per kilo during June 2008. This bale was produced by the Hillcreston Pinehill Partnership and measured 11.6 microns, 72.1% yield, and had a 43 newtons per kilotex strength measurement. The bale realized $ 247,480 and was exported to India. In 2007, a new wool suit was developed and sold in Japan that can be washed in the shower, and which dries off ready to wear within hours with no ironing required. The suit
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