Differing conceptualizations of the same landscape
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Gary Holton
Abstract
This paper further explores the non-universality of landscape terms by focusing on one particular landscape, the Yukon Intermontane Plateau of western Alaska. This region serves as the boundary between two great language families of North America, Athabaskan and Eskimo, and thus offers a unique laboratory in which to examine the extent to which cultural factors in two genetically unrelated languages influence the categorization of a single, fixed landscape. Drawing on published lexical sources, unpublished place name documentation, and first-hand interviews with Native speakers, the results presented here demonstrate that, while Athabaskan and Eskimo speakers may occupy the same landscape, their respective languages conceptualize that landscape in different ways.
Abstract
This paper further explores the non-universality of landscape terms by focusing on one particular landscape, the Yukon Intermontane Plateau of western Alaska. This region serves as the boundary between two great language families of North America, Athabaskan and Eskimo, and thus offers a unique laboratory in which to examine the extent to which cultural factors in two genetically unrelated languages influence the categorization of a single, fixed landscape. Drawing on published lexical sources, unpublished place name documentation, and first-hand interviews with Native speakers, the results presented here demonstrate that, while Athabaskan and Eskimo speakers may occupy the same landscape, their respective languages conceptualize that landscape in different ways.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword ix
- Preface xi
- Landscape in language 1
- Ethnophysiography 25
- Exploring philosophy of place 47
- Embedded in place 73
- Philosophical issues in ethnophysiography 101
- ‘Land’ and life 121
- Landscape in Western Pantar, a Papuan outlier of southern Indonesia 143
- Hawaiian storied place names 167
- Between the trees and the tides 187
- Differing conceptualizations of the same landscape 225
- A case study in Ahtna Athabascan geographic knowledge 239
- Revitalizing place names through stories and songs 261
- Language and landscape among the Tlingit 275
- Language, landscape and ethnoecology, reflections from northwestern Canada 291
- Landscape embedded in language 327
- Navajo landscape and its contexts 343
- Navigating regional landscapes with Jicarilla personal narrative 353
- Ontology of landscape in language 369
- The role of geospatial technologies for integrating landscape in language 381
- Classifying landscape character 395
- Perspectives on the ethical conduct of landscape in language research 411
- Notes on contributors 435
- Index 443
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword ix
- Preface xi
- Landscape in language 1
- Ethnophysiography 25
- Exploring philosophy of place 47
- Embedded in place 73
- Philosophical issues in ethnophysiography 101
- ‘Land’ and life 121
- Landscape in Western Pantar, a Papuan outlier of southern Indonesia 143
- Hawaiian storied place names 167
- Between the trees and the tides 187
- Differing conceptualizations of the same landscape 225
- A case study in Ahtna Athabascan geographic knowledge 239
- Revitalizing place names through stories and songs 261
- Language and landscape among the Tlingit 275
- Language, landscape and ethnoecology, reflections from northwestern Canada 291
- Landscape embedded in language 327
- Navajo landscape and its contexts 343
- Navigating regional landscapes with Jicarilla personal narrative 353
- Ontology of landscape in language 369
- The role of geospatial technologies for integrating landscape in language 381
- Classifying landscape character 395
- Perspectives on the ethical conduct of landscape in language research 411
- Notes on contributors 435
- Index 443
