Solega Place Names and Their Ecological Significance

Si, Aung; Agnihotri, Samira

doi:10.1353/anl.2014.0019

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Many of these recordings are housed in the online Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR, https://www.soas.ac.uk/elar/, Archive ID: solega-si-0150). The transcription of narratives concerning the natural environment and the elicitation of technical vocabulary for the purpose of creating a Solega-English Dictionary (Si, 2020) contributed greatly to the authors' understanding of key Solega cultural and ethnobiological concepts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the late 1990s, the B. R. Hills have been heavily invaded by the non-native weed, Lantana camara, and the only remaining evidence of what the forest looked like before the invasion is in the collective memories of the older generations (40 years and above), and in Solega place names (Si and Agnihotri, 2014). This large-scale invasion has resulted in the local extinction of many herbs and grasses, several of which are important food plants for animals and humans alike, and are of cultural and medicinal value to the Solega.…”

Section: Recent Changes To the Forest Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tiger Becomes Termite Hill: Soliga/Solega Perceptions of Wildlife Interactions and Ecological Change

Agnihotri

Madegowda

2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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The Solega community living in the Biligiri Rangan Hills (B. R. Hills) of Karnataka State, southern India, have noticed significant changes to the ecosystem of their forest homeland over the last four or five decades. Originally hunter-gatherers, who carried out swidden agriculture at a subsistence level, they were forced to abandon the semi-nomadic ways of their ancestors, and settle in permanent villages when these forests were first declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1974. In this paper, we present the views of Solega elders on the ecological changes that have taken place in the B. R. Hills, along with the subsequent changes in their interactions with the animals that also inhabit this landscape. The Solega way of life is accustomed to co-existing with wildlife, and they worship several animal deities. Their folklore and traditional ecological knowledge are also replete with ways of avoiding dangerous encounters with wildlife. Many of the detrimental ecological changes observed by Solega people are ascribed by them to the halting of their traditional litter fire regime, and the subsequent rampant growth of the exotic invasive plant Lantana camara, which now dominates the understorey in large swathes of the forest. These factors combine, according to Solega elders, to negatively impact the well-being of both animals as well as their own people. We hope to demonstrate how a deeper understanding of Solega language and culture, both essential facets of everyday life, as well as of their traditional ecological knowledge—can allow a full appreciation of the interactions between small Indigenous communities, such as the Solega, and the natural environment. We argue for a greater appreciation of, and engagement with, Indigenous knowledge in conservation efforts in countries such as India, where the protection of charismatic species, such as tigers, is often perceived to be at odds with the rights of small minority groups, such as the Solega.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recent Changes To the Forest Ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tiger Becomes Termite Hill: Soliga/Solega Perceptions of Wildlife Interactions and Ecological Change

Agnihotri

Madegowda

2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…Most Komnzo place names consist of two words that form a nominal compound. Such patterns are known from other places in the world (Si & Agnihotri, 2014). Since compounds are almost always right-headed, the first word modifies the second word in some way.…”

Section: Place Namesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birds and places: What the lexicon reveals about multilingualism

Döhler

2021

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and objectives: The paper describes the current multilingual language ecology and explores two subdomains of the lexicon in order to infer information about the extent and nature of multilingualism in the past. Methodology: The paper employs quantitative and qualitative analysis of a sociolinguistic questionnaire in the first part. The second part includes a qualitative analysis of lexemes in the domains of bird names and plant names, and then compares them with old ethnographic sources as well as recent information on the surrounding languages. Data: The data of this study come from original fieldwork by the author in the village of Rouku and surrounding villages collected between 2010 and 2016. It is supplemented by material from colleagues working on related languages (Evans, Kashima and Siegel). Findings: The method suggests that the type of multilingualism that was practiced in the past is similar to today. Originality: The study is novel in providing a description of multilingualism from the Southern New Guinea area. Moreover, it advances a lexicographic and ethnographic approach in reconstructing the past state of a language ecology. Implications: The main conclusion is that in the absence of written historical sources – a problem that one is almost always facing in New Guinea – it is possible to extrapolate from the lexicon of Komnzo to a past state of the local language ecology. Limitations: The method does not allow for dating the point in time for which the inferences can be made.

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“…The written context also needs to be well-understood; hence, whenever possible, we triangulate across multiple sources to compare and verify results. Places named after wild fauna have been widely used as evidence (through critical analysis) for the former occurrence of the named species, such as wolves and beavers in the UK (Aybes and Yalden, 1995;Hough, 2008), pronghorn antelope and mountain lion in southwestern USA (Lett, 1970) and bears in southern India (Si and Agnihotri, 2014). To this end, many villages and geographic locations (e.g.…”

Section: Historical Documentary Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“But what silence! No more gazelles…”: Occurrence and extinction of fauna in Lesotho, southern Africa, since the late Pleistocene

Grab

Nash

2022

Quaternary International

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Understanding the historical dynamics of wildlife distribution and abundance is essential to developing appropriate conservation measures. Here we investigate the occurrence and status of medium-to large-sized fauna (excluding avifauna) for the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho and immediate adjoining regions of South Africa, from the late Pleistocene to the present-day. We provide historical timelines and records of reported medium to large faunal taxa based on: data from eight published archaeological excavations, analyses of several hundred unpublished 19 th and 20 th century historical documents (including missionary letters, diaries, colonial reports and newspapers), and 58 recent oral history interviews. Vegetation and climate changes through the Holocene are also noted, based on archaeo-botanical records. Through these sources, we record 61 medium to large faunal species for Lesotho and surrounding regions over the past ~21 ka, of which only 22 are present today. Some species not previously known to the region are documented (e.g. Temminck's pangolin). Most species were present during the early 19 th century, but many regional species extinctions and a major faunal population decline occurred between 1845 and 1850, owing mainly to settler hunting campaigns. Subsequent extinctions have taken place over a wider temporal interval, due to factors including overhunting, human-wildlife conflicts and habitat loss. It seems that some taxa were forced into unsuitable mountain refugia where species eventually succumbed to genetic erosion and/or harsh climatic conditions. Our results increase current understanding of regional faunal and environmental changes, such as the timing of species occurrences and extinction events and processes in Lesotho. Such work adds valuable knowledge to understanding the environmental heritage of the region. Information can be disseminated into wildlife records, national environmental reports, the WWF, the national school environmental educational curriculum and to National Parks and Heritage Sites.

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Solega Place Names and Their Ecological Significance

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

Tiger Becomes Termite Hill: Soliga/Solega Perceptions of Wildlife Interactions and Ecological Change

Tiger Becomes Termite Hill: Soliga/Solega Perceptions of Wildlife Interactions and Ecological Change

Birds and places: What the lexicon reveals about multilingualism

“But what silence! No more gazelles…”: Occurrence and extinction of fauna in Lesotho, southern Africa, since the late Pleistocene

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