A new quiz:

[Dennis S]

The Navajo are known for their heroic service as "code talkers" in the second World War. The Navajo language was a "code" that was never broken by the Japanese, a spectacular advantage to the Allied forces.

In fact, there was a people group in Asia who shared, to some extent, the language of the Navajo. Can you name that group?

 

[Cris N]

Mongolians?

 

[Tbone]

The laphai is the answer no? Also, the Navajo code was never broken by anyone.

 

[Dennis S]

Mongolians?

Mongolians is the answer I was looking for. This answer is a little bit controversial here in the Southwest. Many Navajo believe they are a unique people, not descended from any other people group. However, there is very strong linguistic evidence that their (Navajo) ancestors crossed the Bering strait, and eventually settled in the Southwest. The biggest part of this evidence is similarities in the language. In fact, Navajo who have traveled to Mongolia have been amazed at how much of the Mongolian language they were able to understand.

On a personal, anecdotal level---We have a friend who is a professor specializing in languages at the University of Tokyo. While she was here, some of our Jemez friends invited us to dinner on the Pueblo. The Jemez people speak Towa, an unwritten language not to be shared or taught to non-Pueblo people. It is spoken by only a few thousand Jemez people. Our friend, Dr. Itoh felt there were remarkable similarities to some of the Asian languages she was familiar with.

By the way, if you want to send me a pm with your street address, I have a small prize for the winner.