Wow, I take back how simple it looked! lol Amazingly complex. What I find interesting is the spiritual significance of it all. It's like the language is a religion unto itself. Would the comparative hardness of a consonant be the reason why it is the body and the softer vowel the soul? I am guessing here but would a uyirmei be a combination of a consonant and a vowel? It'd be rather symbolic if that were the case because it would be a combination of body and soul--the balance of the two.

In english, I have no clue of why we have rules like "i before e except after c" and so on. If there are any old reasons why our word formats are there, they certainly aren't being taught to us in regular schooling. Intriguing stuff, Prema. From what I understand, the Navajo language is about as complex as this. The different sounds all of their own meaning. A word can be simply translated for ease but the greater definition of the word usually has more of an explanation to it.

Thank you!

Stephanie

In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that I am his pupil.--Ralph Waldo Emerson