what role does language play in making places?
TRANSCRIPT
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 171 !! language is a tool in making places
!! just by naming a place, people call the place into
being and impart a certain character on the place
!! geographers call place names – toponym
!! George Stewart recognized that certain themes dominate American toponyms
!! he developed a classification scheme focused on 10 basic types of place names:
!! descriptive – Rocky Mountains; associative – Mill Valley, Ca;
!! commemorative – San Francisco
!! commendatory – Paradise Valley, Az.
!! incidents – Battle Creek, Mi.
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 171 !! possessive – Johnson City, Tx.
!! folk culture – Plains, Ga. or Academia, Pa.
!! manufactured – Truth or Consequences, NM
!! mistake – Lasker, NC ( named after Alaska)
!! shift names – Lancaster, Pa.- relocated name from
Lancaster, England; Alpine Mountains – double name –
when a place has 2 names that mean the same thing
!! studying toponyms of a place – tells us about the historical migration of peoples
!! that’s why there are Welsh toponyms in PA, French in LA, and Dutch in Michigan
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 171 !! Interesting case is in Brazil
!! of course there will be Portuguese toponyms
!! but there are also German in the South – Santa Catarina
!! and African in the southern states of Bahia
Benin and Nigeria
!! toponyms also depend on who you ask:
!! ex. – islands off coast of Argentina
!! Argentine – Malvinas
!! British – Falkland Islands
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 172 !! Changing Toponyms
!! Why would people do that?
!! to preserve or bring back a culture
!! ex. – Welsh town wanted to boost local economy with
tourism
!! also.
!! Kenai Peninsula in Alaska
!! Natives called one town – Nanwalek
!! Russians – Alexandrof
!! Americans – English Bay
!! now – back to Nanwalek
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 173 !! Posts-Colonial Toponyms
!! name changes happen a lot when power changes hands
!! African colonies changed names after independence:
!! wanted to get rid of colonial names
!! Upper Volta became – Burkino Fasco
!! Gold Coast became – Ghana
!! Nyasland became – Malawi
!! North Rhodesia became Zambia
!! South Rhodesia became – Zimbabwe
!! Netherlands East of Indies became - Indonesia
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 173 !! newly independent countries also changed names of
cities and towns to reflect their independence:
!! Leopoldville – Kinshasa, capital of Congo
!! Salisbury – Harare capital of Zimbabwe
!! Lovaneo Maques – Moputo, capital of Mozambique
!! Postrevolution Toponyms – independence prompts name changes and too-do coups, and revelutions
!! Belgian Congo – Zaire – when General Mobuto Seko too over
!! Zaire – D. R. of the Congo when Lavent Kabila ousted Mobuto
!! Same thing in Russis/S.U. (RC 1st paragraph)
!! and South Africa
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 173
!! Memorial Toponyms
!! occur when people want to memorialize an important person or event.
!! that’s why there a a lot of “Memorial Parks” in the U.S.
!! Derek Alderman – explains in recent decades Blacks in the South have push for memorials/museums honoring civil rights movement
!! removing Confederate symbols from public places
!! streets are often a focal point of commemoration
!! many streets memorialize Martin Luther King especially in the South (Georgia and Mississippi especially)
What Role Does Language Play in Making Places?
page 174
!! Commodification of Toponyms
!! commodifying (buying, selling, trading) toponyms is growing especially in pop culture
!! ex. – Disney spreading all over the world
!! stadiums are susceptible to commodification
!! (read the last paragraph)