A comparison of landscape categorization in Inuit-Yupik and Dene languages in Alaska

Slides from a paper presented at the 18th Inuit Studies Conference, Washington, DC, October 24-28, 2012.The landscape domain poses a significant challenge for linguistic categorization, since unlike more discrete domains such as zoology and botany, the landscape domain lacks an etic grid on which to base linguistic categories (Turk et al. 2012). Thus, it is not surprising that there is significant cross-linguistic variation in the way landscape terms are ontologized (Burenhult and Levinson 2008). While Alaska itself exhibits great diversity in landforms, a large swath of country extending from the Bering coast to the Canadian border is shared two very different language families: Inuit-Yupik and Dene. Preliminary studies of landscape terminology in these two language families suggest that Dene languages emphasize vertical features and mountain valleys, while Inuit-Yupik languages are less concerned with vertical scale and the notion of valley (Holton 2011). The current paper compares the semantics of landscape terms in Inupiaq, Yup’ik, Dena’ina, and Koyukon, four languages which are spoken along the boundary between Inuit-Yupik and Dene. In addition, the structures of Inuit-Yupik and Dene spatial orientation systems are compared

Cultural and Language Influences on the Interpretation of Spatial Prepositions

Abstract Culture and language can influence the generation and interpretation of spatial language, which would impact the quality of computational spatial language processing. This paper presents three human-subject experiments aimed at investigating these potential influences on the quantitative interpretations of five spatial prepositions. We show that for the languages (English and German) and cultures investigated (Europe and United States) neither language nor culture have a significant influence

Conceptualizing Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Landscape Categories with Navajo and English-speaking Participants

Abstract. Understanding human concepts, spatial and other, is not only one of the most prominent topics in the cognitive and spatial sciences; it is also one of the most challenging. While it is possible to focus on specific aspects of our spatial environment and abstract away complexities for experimental purposes, it is important to understand how cognition in the wild or at least with complex stimuli works, too. The research presented in this paper addresses emerging topics in the area of landscape conceptualization and explicitly uses a diversity fostering approach to uncover potentials, challenges, complexities, and patterns in human landscape concepts. Based on a representation of different landscapes (images) responses from two different populations were elicited: Navajo and the (US) crowd. Our data provides support for the idea of conceptual pluralism; we can confirm that participant responses are far from random and that, also diverse, patterns exist that allow for advancing our understanding of human spatial cognition with complex stimuli

A conceptual investigation of the ontological commensurability of spatial data infrastructures among different cultures

Humans think and communicate in very flexible and schematic ways, and a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the Amazon and associated information system ontologies should reflect this flexibility and the adaptive nature of human cognition in order to achieve semantic interoperability. In this paper I offer a conceptual investigation of SDI and explore the nature of cultural schemas as expressions of indigenous ontologies and the challenges of semantic interoperability across cultures. Cultural schemas are, in essence, our ontologies, but they are markedly different than classical formal ontologies. They shape our ontological commitments to what exists in the world as well as the ways in which we approach and engage the world. And while they help structure our understanding of the world in which we are embedded, they are associative and flexible. They help to focus our attention to particular details of our experiences and give them salience, yet they cannot be simply reduced to a series of extracted features. They allow us to make meaning of the contextualized, cultural experience in which we are always immersed. An SDI is a shared social-technological-informational structure that, if it is to be useful and successful for sustainability in the Amazon, must incorporate and use indigenous cultural schemas. Indigenous communities must have the ability to contribute to the collection of geospatial data and their contributions recognized as legitimate forms of knowledge. In order for the SDI to work, it must recognize the larger cultural landscape to which cultural schemas can connect to the ready-to-hand elements of salient cultural experiences

Toponomastics of the Extreme Southern Andean Region: Contributions to Yahgan Toponymy

El yagán es la más meridional de las lenguas andinas que Adelaar y Muysken (2004) sistematizan por zonas, desde la esfera chibcha hasta Tierra del Fuego. La lengua de los yagán, indígenas canoeros nómades, se habló en un amplio territorio que iba desde los canales y costas al sur de Tierra del Fuego hasta el Cabo de Hornos. Esta importante extensión areal dio lugar a numerosos topónimos, en su mayoría olvidados hoy en día, que resultan una valiosa fuente de información lingüística y cultural. En este trabajo se recopila y coteja un conjunto de topónimos registrados en mapas e informes de exploraciones del siglo XIX, a los que se suma un nuevo corpus inédito, recogido por Martin Gusinde en el marco de sus trabajos etnológicos con los yagán a principios del siglo XX. Este corpus se encuentra registrado en una carta topográfica que recoge casi 400 nombres en lengua indígena. El marco teórico-metodológico para este estudio correlaciona el análisis morfológico con las motivaciones semánticas, y propone una interpretación lexicológica ligada a la cultura a partir de fuentes documentales.Yaghan is the southernmost of the Andean languages that Adelaar and Muysken (2004) systematise by area, from the Chibcha sphere to Tierra del Fuego. The language of the Yaghan, a nomadic canoe people, was spoken over a wide territory stretching from the channels and coasts in the south of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. This large area gave rise to numerous toponyms, most of them forgotten today, which are a valuable source of linguistic and cultural information. This work compiles and collates a set of toponyms registered in maps and exploration reports from the 19th century, to which is added a new, unpublished corpus, collected by Martin Gusinde in the framework of his ethnological work with the Yaghan at the beginning of the 20th century. This corpus is registered in a topographical chart that includes almost 400 names in the indigenous language. The theoretical-methodological framework for this study correlates morphological analysis with semantic motivations and proposes a culture-linked lexicological interpretation based on documentary sources.Fil: Regúnaga, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Toponomástica del extremo sur andino: aportes a la toponimia yagán

Yaghan is the southernmost of the Andean languages that Adelaar and Muysken(2004) systematise by area, from the Chibcha sphere to Tierra del Fuego. The language ofthe Yaghan, a nomadic canoe people, was spoken over a wide territory stretching from the channels and coasts in the south of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. This large area gave rise to numerous toponyms, most of them forgotten today, which are a valuable source of linguistic and cultural information. This work compiles and collates a set of toponyms registered in maps and exploration reports from the 19th century, to which is added a new, unpublished corpus, collected by Martin Gusinde in the framework of his ethnological work with the Yaghan at the beginning of the 20th century. This corpus is registered in a topographical chart that includes almost 400 names in the indigenous language. The theoretical-methodological framework for this study correlates morphological analysis with semantic motivations and proposes a culture-linked lexicological interpretation based on documentary sources.El yagán es la más meridional de las lenguas andinas que Adelaar y Muysken (2004) sistematizan por zonas, desde la esfera chibcha hasta Tierra del Fuego. La lengua de los yagán, indígenas canoeros nómades, se habló en un amplio territorio que iba desde los canales y costas al sur de Tierra del Fuego hasta el Cabo de Hornos. Esta importante extensión areal dio lugar a numerosos topónimos, en su mayoría olvidados hoy en día, que resultan una valiosa fuente de información lingüística y cultural. En este trabajo se recopila y coteja un conjunto de topónimos registrados en mapas e informes de exploraciones del siglo XIX, a los que se suma un nuevo corpus inédito, recogido por Martin Gusinde en el marco de sus trabajos etnológicos con los yagán a principios del siglo XX. Este corpus se encuentra registrado en una carta topográfica que recoge casi 400 nombres en lengua indígena. El marco teórico-metodológico para este estudio correlaciona el análisis morfológico con las motivaciones semánticas, y propone una interpretación lexicológica ligada a la cultura a partir de fuentes documentales

Deixis In Shughni: Grammatical And Semantic Considerations

Shughni is one of the best documented and described languages of the Pamirs. Linguistic research so far has focused on the verbal system of Shughni grammar but no detailed study has been done on the deictic system of the language. In this thesis I will describe grammatical and semantic aspects of the deictic system in Shughni. During the course of the project I observed natural conversations, and listened to stories and discussions, and additionally I elicited sentences or conversations in order to clarify structures or understanding of previous observations. In this thesis I describe the grammatical structures of Shughni deixis using Role and Reference grammar as theoretical framework. I describe how Shughni expresses the three basic semantic categories of deixis: person, space and time. Furthermore I present evidence that Shughni uses a deictic hierarchy and a landmark system to express location and direction. In local deixis river-flow supersedes mountain-slope, which are both superseded by the flow of the Panj River when using a global perspective

Héen Aawashaayi Shaawat / Marrying the water

One meaning of the word Tlingit is “people of the tides”. Immediately this identification with tides introduces a palpable experience of the aquatic as well as a keen sense of place. It is a universal truth that the human animal has co-evolved over millennia with water or the lack of it, developing nuanced, sophisticated and intimate water knowledges. However there is little in the anthropological or geographical record that showcases contemporary Indigenous societies upholding customary laws concerning their relationship with water, and more precisely how this dictates their philosophy of place. It is in the Indigenous record, and in this case the Tlingit and Tagish traditional oral narratives, toponyms (place names), and cultural practices, that principles of an alternative ontological water consciousness can be found to inform and potentially reimagine contemporary international debates concerning water ethics, water law, water governance, and water management

Memory and Landscape

The North is changing at an unprecedented rate as industrial development and the climate crisis disrupt not only the environment but also long-standing relationships to the land and traditional means of livelihood. Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North explores the ways in which Indigenous peoples in the Arctic have adapted to challenging circumstances, including past cultural and environmental changes. In this beautifully illustrated volume, contributors document how Indigenous communities in Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, and Siberia are seeking ways to maintain and strengthen their cultural identity while also embracing forces of disruption. Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors bring together oral history and scholarly research from disciplines such as linguistics, archaeology, and ethnohistory. With an emphasis on Indigenous place names, this volume illuminates how the land—and the memories that are inextricably tied to it—continue to define Indigenous identity. The perspectives presented here also serve to underscore the value of Indigenous knowledge and its essential place in future studies of the Arctic. Contributions by Vinnie Baron, Hugh Brody, Kenneth Buck, Anna Bunce, Donald Butler, Michael A. Chenlov, Aron L. Crowell, Peter C. Dawson, Martha Dowsley, Robert Drozda, Gary Holton, Colleen Hughes, Peter Jacobs, Emily Kearney-Williams, Igor Krupnik, Apayo Moore, Murielle Nagy, Mark Nuttall, Evon Peter, Louann Rank, William E. Simeone, Felix St-Aubin, and Will Stolz.Publishe