Title:

Landscape unbounded: space, place, and orientation in ≠Akhoe Hai//om and beyond

Author(s):
Publication Year:
2008
Abstract:

Even before it became a common place to assume that “the Eskimo have a hundred words for snow” the languages of hunting and gathering people have played an important role in debates about linguistic relativity concerning geographical ontologies. Evidence from languages of hunter-gatherers has been used in radical relativist challenges to the overall notion of a comparative typology of generic natural forms and landscapes as terms of reference. It has been invoked to emphasize a personalized relationship between humans and the non-human world. It is against this background that this contribution discusses the landscape terminology of ≠Akhoe Hai//om, a Khoisan language spoken by “Bushmen” in Namibia. Landscape vocabulary is ubiquitous in ≠Akhoe Hai//om due to the fact that the landscape plays a critical role in directionals and other forms of “topographical gossip” and due to merges between landscape and group terminology. This system of landscape-cum-group terminology is outlined and related to the use of place names in the area. Keywords: Khoisan, Hunter-gatherers, Absolute frame of reference, Orientation, Namibia, Bushmen.

Publication Title:

Language Sciences

Volume:
30
Issue:
2-3
Pages:
362-380
Item Type:
Journal Article
Language:
en