Semantic Extension in Kaytetye Flora and Fauna Terms

Turpin, Myfany

doi:10.1080/07268602.2013.857571

Cited by 14 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Three decades later, the concept of Biocultural Diversity was born, coinciding with a renewed academic interest in the synergy between indigenous languages, traditional knowledge (TK), and biological diversity. This concept paved the way for a new wave of research that focused significantly on the use of vernacular/folk names, analyzing them both from a linguistic and TK perspective (Evans 1997;Kakudidi 2004;Turpin 2013;Unasho 2013;Zariquiey 2014). Researchers have demonstrated that folk names are not mere lexemes, but condensed forms of knowledge with multiple applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Ethnotaxonomy to Assess Traditional Knowledge and Language Vitality: A Case Study with the Vaie People of Sarawak, Malaysia

Hidayati¹,

Ghani

Giridharan

et al. 2018

EBL

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This article demonstrates the potential of using ethnotaxonomy and nomenclature to assess the vitality status of indigenous languages and traditional knowledge at the ecosystem level. We collaborated with the Vaie people of Sarawak, Malaysia, applying a mixed methodology approach that relies on free-listing to a large extent. We applied the Traditional Knowledge and Language Vitality (TraLaVi) index to assess traditional knowledge and language vitality against five major parameters, specifically: language priority, retrieval of information, knowledge erosion, lexical recognition, and social support for exchange of traditional knowledge. The results show that with a TraLaVi score of 0.84, the Vaie language can be considered “safe”. Individuals practicing the traditional occupation of fishing fared better (mean=0.90) than those of the non-fishermen group (mean=0.77). However, when the language vitality was assessed using the Language Vitality and Endangerment assessment tool of UNESCO, the results indicate that the Vaie language could potentially be in the “unsafe” zone, highlighting the differences between the ecosystem based approach of the TraLaVi and the macro-approach of UNESCO. However, these approaches can be applied in a complementary manner to generate a more accurate portrayal of the language vitality scenario.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Ethnotaxonomy to Assess Traditional Knowledge and Language Vitality: A Case Study with the Vaie People of Sarawak, Malaysia

Hidayati¹,

Ghani

Giridharan

et al. 2018

EBL

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“…The Saramaccan plant names contain all sorts of cultural information and are often fusions of words belonging to various domains. This practice is present among traditional cultures around the world (e.g., Turpin 2013;Fundiko et al 2015). Because the Saramaccan have an oral culture, plant names help them to classify their natural surroundings, safeguard their cultural knowledge, and remember certain aspects related to the plant's morphology, habitat, or use.…”

Section: Ethnobotanical Source Domainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plants play a vital role in traditional societies. Studying plant names, their structure, and their meaning is useful for documentation and plant classification purposes, but also for gaining a deeper understanding of the etymology of plant names (Berlin 1973(Berlin , 1992 and the source domains or categories they belong to, such as animals, people, morphology, or habitat (Leyew 2011;Turpin 2013). Plant names can also provide information on where people historically came from and with whom they had contact or exchanged knowledge (Van Andel et al 2014;Alcantara-Rodríguez 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

African elements in Saramaccan Maroon plant names in Suriname

Klooster

Haabo

Berg

et al. 2022

Botany

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The ancestors of the Saramaccan Maroons, who were brought as enslaved Africans to Suriname, used their ethnobotanical knowledge and native languages to name the flora in their new environment. Little is known about the influence of African languages on Saramaccan plant naming. We hypothesized that Saramaccan plant names were more influenced by Central African languages than found so far based on ethnobotanical research, because data of the Central African region was scarce. We compiled a new database on Saramaccan plant names and compared these names with an unpublished plant name database from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the earlier published NATRAPLAND database on Afro-Surinamese plant names to find comparable plant names for botanically related species in Africa. We further analyzed form, meaning, function, and categories of Saramaccan plant name components by means of dictionaries and grammars. In total, 39% of the Saramaccan plant names had an African origin, of which 44% were African retentions, 54% were innovations and 2% were misidentifications with botanical links to Africa via other plant species. Most retentions were of Central African origin (62%). The Bantu language that contributed most to Saramaccan plant names was Kikongo, followed by West African Kwa languages. Plant names reveal important information on the African origin of the Saramaccans, and deserve more scientific attention.

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“…However, what is often overlooked is their capability to encode knowledge on ecological, and/ or cultural relationship between multiple denotata. Folk names that show such properties are usually metaphors or metonyms (Turpin 2013, Evans 1997. For instance, in the Dalabon language, both the cheeky yam and grasshoppers are denoted by the metonymic (Evans 1997) folk name yawok (Cutfield 2016).…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intellectualist premise of folk names support their restoration in formal taxonomy

Franco

2021

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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Semantic Extension in Kaytetye Flora and Fauna Terms

Cited by 14 publications

References 8 publications

Using Ethnotaxonomy to Assess Traditional Knowledge and Language Vitality: A Case Study with the Vaie People of Sarawak, Malaysia

Using Ethnotaxonomy to Assess Traditional Knowledge and Language Vitality: A Case Study with the Vaie People of Sarawak, Malaysia

African elements in Saramaccan Maroon plant names in Suriname

Intellectualist premise of folk names support their restoration in formal taxonomy

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