Placenames and Ecolinguistics: Some Considerations for Toponymists

AAA – Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik Band 40 (2015) · Heft 1-2 Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen Placenames and Ecolinguistics Some Considerations for Toponymists Joshua Nash Placenaming (toponymy) has not received much explicit attention from ecolinguists. An outline of ecolinguistics as relevant to toponymy is given. Using several exemplary toponyms in Norf‟k, the language spoken on Norfolk Island, South Pacific, a definition of an ecologically embedded language is put forward. Ecolinguistics can be broadly divided into two themes. The first deals with environmental discourse analysis, often termed eco-critical discourse analysis, critical ecolinguistics, and the language of ecology and environmentalism. The second deals with interactions between humans, mind, and environment, can be expressed through lexico-grammatical studies of how humans talk about and adapt linguistically to new and foreign environments. This second strand is commonly referred to as language ecology or the ecology of language. I will not be overly concerned with the first. Since its beginnings in the 1980s and 1990s in Western universities, ecolinguistics has grown into a research field in its own right, although the boundaries of what ecolinguistic analysis is and how one should go about doing ecolinguistic research has not been made explicit by scholars working in the field. The linguistic community has also questioned the relevance of ecolinguistics as a subdiscipline in general and called into 1 question on what theoretical ground ecolinguistics actually stands. There have also been several critical voices concerning specific aspects of ecolinguistic research. Goddard (1996) and Siegel (1997) launched well weighted and justified critiques against some of the key tenets in (Australian) ecolinguistics. Goddard critiqued ecolinguistic work from a se1 For polemical reviews of ecolinguistic work see Edwards (2008) and Ostler (2001). 68 Joshua Nash mantic and universalist perspective; Siegel took a line based in pidgin and creole languages and language documentation in the Pacific. With the exception of some recent reflections on what might constitute ecolinguistic theory and thought (e.g. LeVasseur 2014), scholars and theoreticians have not been overly explicit in stating the theoretical breadth of ecolinguistics and its practical implications for general linguistic theory. Ecolinguistics provides several conceptual questions. As regards toponymy I am concerned with one major empirical question: How can relationships involving people, language, place, and names be measured empirically in and through toponyms? Research in linguistics has generally focused on linguistic structure decontextualised from the environment the language is spoken. Sociolinguistic research has contributed significantly to an understanding of language use and language in social context just as ecolinguistics has created awareness of language as an ecological phenomenon (Haugen 1972). Some ecolinguistic research has focused on more obscure issues, to the extent that some would claim much of what is in the interest range of ecolinguistics does not concern linguistics at all. Regardless, there is a need for contextually sensitive empirical analyses which ask questions about interrelationships concerning language, culture, and the natural environment without being alienated from mainstream linguistics. Broad philosophical analyses of the relationship between lexicon and environmental management are important in their own right. However, it leaves unanswered the question of how to analyse specific aspects of particular linguistic ecologies (e.g. toponyms). There is a distinct gap in linguistics and toponymy of a method and theory which outlines how along with formal structural analysis the ecological implications of toponyms and their connection to the nexus of place where they develop and exist should be analysed. Such an approach will not only emphasise the efficacy of the structural analysis but will also accentuate the multitude of cultural and ecological parameters necessary to consider when conducting an ecolinguistic analysis of toponyms. I reflect briefly on elements relevant to an ecolinguistic consideration of toponymy. These reflections are based on my linguistic fieldwork conducted on Norfolk Island, South Pacific where Norf‟k is spoken and used in toponymy (Nash 2013). The anthropological linguist Edward Sapir illustrates how history may be reflected in toponyms: only the student of language history is able to analyse such names as essex, norfolk, and sutton into their component elements as east saxon, north folk, and south town, while to the lay consciousness these names are etymological units as purely as are “butter” and “cheese”. the contrast between a country inhabited by an historically homogeneous group for a long time, full of etymo- Placenames and Ecolinguistics 69 logically obscure place-names, and a newly settled country with its newtowns, wildwoods, and mill creeks, is apparent. (Sapir 1912: 231) As one of the early proponents for exploring relationships between language and its bio-cultural environment, Sapir‟s suggestions about toponymy are still remarkably relevant. In traditional views of linguistic analysis, languages can be studied without any reference to the bio-cultural context in which they are used. They can also be transplanted and replace other languages; they are arbitrary codes to express universal cognitive categories. These concepts have been at the heart of the ecolinguistic critique of traditional linguistics. The idea that linguistic practices are detachable from the world suggests one can distinguish between two prototypical language types: (1) ecologically embedded languages, and (2) disconnected languages. These are idealised types and in reality most languages are a complex mix between being constructed by their environment and constructing their environment (Mühlhäusler 2003: 2). However, such a split between conceptions of what languages are is useful in an empirical analysis. An ecologically embedded language should exhibit the following properties: 1. Words reflect social interaction between humans and their environment, e.g. Moo-oo Stone on Norfolk Island is an offshore rock formation with a large amount of moo-oo, or native Norfolk flax; Dar Fig Valley is the name of a valley where locals used to grow figs; Deep Water is a fishing location on the east coast known for the depth of the water in this area. 2. Lexical and grammatical forms are not regarded as arbitrary, e.g. the toponym Johnny Nigger Bun Et (English: Johnny Nigger Burnt It) as a grammatical unit is a sentence. It expresses an idiosyncratic Norfolk personal name form, i.e. „Johnny Nigger‟ remembers the uncontrolled burning of a coastal area by an American whaler who came to live on Norfolk in the 1800s. 3. The same word can be used to describe human and other life forms, e.g. the Norf‟k horg (pig, hog) is used to describe animals, humans and even the name of a fishing location. Dar Horg is named after a terrestrial feature which resembles a pig from the sea. 4. The lexicon and grammar of space reflects topography, e.g. Out ar Station is in a distant location on Norfolk; Up in a Stick is topographically „up‟ in comparison to the administrative centre of Norfolk which is „down‟. 5. Language is a memory of past interactions between humans and nature, e.g. Gun Pit is a concrete structure on the west coast of Norfolk built during World War II. It is also the name 70 Joshua Nash of the fishing ground Ar Gun Pit which uses Gun Pit in one of its marks. A diachronic approach is of vital importance to the study of synchronic patterns of language use. An understanding of the interrelated phenomena can be achieved by interacting in real-world situations, with members of the respective speech communities living in the actual ecology where the language is spoken and used every day. Names associated with tourism on Norfolk (Hibiscus Lodge, Daydreamer Holiday Apartments, Fletcher Christian Apartments, Bligh Court) show how history affects and is reinterpreted through placenames. The vision of Norfolk as an island paradise is reflected in these names. This ecocritical (re-)construction of Norfolk is seen in many domains of naming including the reintroduction of Polynesian names and a distinct absence of Australian anthroponyms. An ecolinguistic point of view considers toponyms as important cultural and environmental artefacts and events. By having access to toponyms and their histories, toponymic maps, and toponymic books or gazetteers, the tapestry of toponymic and topographic contours (names and the world) is revealed (cf. Mark et al.‟s 2011 volume Landscape in Language). Ecolinguistics provides a basis upon which the analysis of this crossdisciplinary mix of linguistic and environmental relationships can be undertaken. An ecolinguistic analysis provides a philosophical and conceptual framework for what I believe can result in a more accurate and detailed description of toponyms in their historical and ecological contexts. References Edwards, John (2008). “The ecology of language: Insight and illusion”. In Angela Creese, Peter Martin & Nancy H. Hornberger (eds). Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 9: Ecology of Language. Berlin: Springer. 15-26. Goddard, Cliff (1996). “Cross-linguistic research on metaphor.” Language & Communication 16/2. 145-151. Haugen, Einar (1972). The Ecology of Language. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. LeVasseur, Todd (2014). “Defining „Ecolinguistics‟?: Challenging emic issues in an evolving environmental discipline.” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 5. 21–28. Mark, David M., Andrew G. Turk, Niclas Burenhult & David Stea (eds.) (2011). Landscape in Language: Transdisciplinary Perspectives [Culture and Language Use 4]. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Mühlhäusler, Peter (2003). Language of Environment – Environment of Language. London: Battlebridge. Nash, Joshua (2013). Insular Toponymies: Place-naming on Norfolk Island, South Pacific and Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 71 Ostler, Nicholas (2001). “Little Jack Horner‟s Christmas Pie, review of Review of Fill & Mühlhäusler (eds.). The Ecolinguistics Reader.” [online] www.ogmios.org/ogmios_files/1711.htm. (25 May 2014). Owen, Charles (2004). “Review of Fill & Mühlhäusler (eds.), The Ecolinguistics Reader.” Language & Communication 24. 183–193. Sapir, Edward (1912). “Language and environment.” American Anthropologist 14. 226-242. Siegel, Jeff (1997). “Review article: Linguistic Ecology: Language Change and Linguistic Imperialism in the Pacific Region by Peter Mühlhäusler (1996).” Australian Journal of Linguistics, 17. 219–238. Joshua Nash Discipline of Linguistics University of New England Australia