Young, Robert W., 1959-....

Robert W. Young, linguist, was born on May 18, 1912 in Chicago, IL. Following graduation from the University of Illinois, in 1935, he enrolled in anthropology at the University of New Mexico. There he became interested in the Navajo language and he was invited to collaborate with John P. Harrington of the Smithsonian Institution in the translation of a series of primers for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1939-40, he accompanied Harrington to Canada for comparative fieldwork with four Athabaskan languages.

Subsequently, during the period 1940-1971, he was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, first as a Specialist in Indian Languages, and after 1950, in Navajo Tribal Relations. In 1971, he joined the staff of the Modern Languages Department at the University of New Mexico where he taught classes in Navajo Linguistics and collaborated with Professor Bernard Spolsky in research conducted by the Navajo Reading Study. It was during this period that a grant was received from the National Endowment for the Humanities to permit Young, jointly with his longtime Navajo colleague, William Morgan Sr., to embark on a major project designed for the compilation of an extensive bilingual Navajo-English/English-Navajo dictionary and grammar. It was published in 1980 under the title, The Navajo Language: A Grammar and Colloquial Dictionary . This work was published again in 1987 in revised form, and this was followed in 1992 by An Analytical Lexicon of Navajo, compiled with the assistance of Sally Midgette. Both works were published by the University of New Mexico Press.

In 1968, Young wrote a history of the Navajo for publication in a commemorative edition of The Gallup Independent celebrating the centennial of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 between the United States Government and the Navajo Tribe. During the 1950's, he compiled a detailed historical-statistical study entitled The Navajo Yearbook, which was published in annual editions and widely distributed to State, Federal, and Tribal officials. In 1989, Young wrote A Political History of the Navajo Tribe, published by Navajo Community College (now Din College). Finally, in 2000, the University of New Mexico Press published his treatise on the Navajo verb, under the title, The Navajo Verb System .

In 1969, Young received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico. He received the Department of the Interior's Superior Service Award in 1972. In 1994, he received the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities award for Excellence in the Humanities, and in 1996, he and his colleague, William Morgan were honored by the Navajo Tribe in a special session of the Navajo Nation Government.

Robert Young passed away on February 20, 2007 at the age of 95.

From the guide to the Robert W. Young Papers, 1850-2003 (bulk 1823-1980), (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)