Question

Describe how the Navajo Code was created. Provide and explain one example of how a phrase was changed and one example of how

Answer 1

The Navajo code was created by Philip Johnston. His father was a missionary, who spent years on a Navajo reservation, allowing Philip to grow up in contact with the language of the Navajo people, which made him learn this language fluently. The Navajo language was very complex, difficult to pronounce and write, which meant that very few people in the world, apart from the Navajos, could understand and learn that language.

Thus, the Navajo language became ideal for messages to be transmitted during the Second World War, without the enemy's army being able to decipher it.

The Navajo code was assembled by a set of Navajo words, where each word symbolized a phrase or other words in the English language.

An example is the word SO-A-LA-IH. In Navajo, this word means "star", but in the Navajo code it symbolized that the message provided was destined for Brigadier General Americano, since his insignia was a star.