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.
Folk names that form the backbone of folk biological classifications are coined using traditional knowledge and linguistic mechanisms. In the process, traditional knowledge on the salient characteristics of the denoted taxa gets encoded in their respective names. In this chapter, we present 132 folk names used by the Vaie community of Sarawak, Malaysia to denote the fish known to them. Based on the apparency of traditional knowledge encoded by these names, we classify them into barefaced and cryptic. We found 61 Vaie fish names encoding traditional knowledge related to ecology, morphology, quality, and utility values of the respective taxa. Of these, 21 names were found to be cryptic (metaphors—11; metonyms—10), and the rest barefaced. Cryptic names such as metonyms and metaphors often encode traditional knowledge that spans beyond the taxon denoted. Folk names encoding traditional knowledge are indicative of the larger body of traditional knowledge held by local communities.
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