KEY QUESTION #4:

WHAT ROLE DOES

LANGUAGE PLAY

IN MAKING

PLACES?

(6 slides)

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE

PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?

Naming a place is a reflection of that place’s

influences & uniqueness

Geographers call place names “toponyms”

Gives us a glimpse into the history of a

place

Knowing who named the place & how

they chose the name says a lot

English professor George Stewart recognizes

10 basic types of place names

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE

PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?

They are:

Descriptive (Rocky Mts.)

Associative (Mill Valley, California)

Commemorative (San Francisco)

Commendatory (Paradise Valley, Arizona)

Incidents (Battle Creek, Michigan)

Possession (Johnson City, Texas)

Folk (Plains, Georgia)

Manufactured (Truth or Consequences, NM)

Mistakes(Lasker, NC---named after AK, it was misspelled)

Shift Names (relocated names like Lancaster, PA---settled

by people from Lancaster, England)

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE

PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?

Brazil has interesting toponyms

Most are Portuguese---reflecting Portuguese colonization

Many German place names in the South

German word for flower is Blume

German immigrants had a well-known fondness for

Brazilian tropical flowers

Therefore, there are cities named Blumenau, Blumberg,

Blumenhof, Blumenort, Blumenthal & Blumenstein

Reveals a flow of forced migration from West Africa

Many of the toponyms in one specific state originated in

either Benin or Nigeria

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE PLAY IN

MAKING PLACES?

When people change the toponym, they have the power to wipe out the

past and create a new future

• After decolonization

• After a political revolution

• To memorialize people or events

• To commodify or brand a place

For colonies that gain independence, they have to make the decision to

change the name

Upper Volta to Burkin Faso

Gold Coast to Ghana

Nyasaland to Malawi

Northern Rhodesia to Zambia

Southern Rhodesia to Zimbabwe

East Pakistan to Bangladesh

Netherlands East Indies to Indonesia

Changing Toponyms

When people change the toponym of a place, they have

the power to “wipe out the past and call forth the new.”

- Yi-Fu Tuan

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE

PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?

Coups & revolutions can cause toponym changes too

DRC is perfect example

Belgian Congo became Zaire after a revolution

Changed currency from the franc to the zaire

Changed the Congo River to the Zaire River

1997: Zaire became DRC after another revolution

Collapses of countries cause changes

In former Soviet Union, Leningrad was renamed Saint

Petersburg; Stalingrad renamed Volgograd

Both names that were used before the 1917

communist revolution

KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE

PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?

Name changes also happen to memorialize

important people or events

Hundreds of parks & buildings named in this

way

Look at map on p. 174 about MLK street

names

Some places have begun buying, selling or

even trading place names

We see this in the naming of stadiums,

amusement parks, etc.

Where are MLK Streets in the US?