A Note on Athapaskan Directionals

Kari, James

doi:10.1086/465936

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…As is typical of Alaskan Dene languages, the Gwich'in direction system utilizes an absolute frame of reference anchored to the region's major river or waterway and its drainage system (Leer, 1989;Levinson, 2003;Brucks, 2015). Gwich'in directional terminology is composed of six prefixes that combine with nine "stem-suffix sets" (Busch, 2000:7) to form more than 200 possible direction terms (Kari, 1985) as shown in Table 2. Leer (1989:576) notes that most of the Alaskan Dene directional stem-suffix sets occur in opposing pairs, such as upstream vs. downstream, upland vs. downland, and across the river, the latter of which "is its own opposite."…”

Section: Gwats'an Tik Vành Oozhrii Gineehòo'ąįį Gwizhit Hàazhiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes

Cannon¹,

Herbert²,

Sangris³

2022

ARCTIC

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Indigenous systems of stellar wayfinding are rarely described or robustly attested outside of maritime contexts, with few examples reported among peoples of the high Arctic and some desert regions. However, like other large-scale environments that exhibit a low legibility of landmarks, the barrenlands of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Flats of Alaska generally lack views of prominent or distinguishing topography for using classic route-based navigation. When travelling off trails and waterways in these respective inland subarctic environments, the Yellowknives Dene and the Alaskan Gwich’in utilize drastically different stellar wayfinding approaches from one another while essentially sharing the same view of the sky. However, in both systems the use of celestial schemata is suspended in favor of route-based navigation when the traveller intersects a familiar geographical feature or trail near their target destination, suggesting strong preference for orienting by landmarks when available. A comparison of both wayfinding systems suggests that large-scale environments that lack a readily discernible ground pattern may be more conducive to the development and implementation of a celestial wayfinding schema when combined with other influential factors such as culture, individual experience, and travel behavior. These are likely the first stellar wayfinding systems described in detail for any inland subarctic culture.

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Section: Gwats'an Tik Vành Oozhrii Gineehòo'ąįį Gwizhit Hàazhiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes

Cannon¹,

Herbert²,

Sangris³

2022

ARCTIC

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“…David and Kay Henry (1969) describe the set of Koyukon directionals, which they call locationals. James Kari, who has done extensive research on both directionals and place names, analyzes the complex set of directional expressions in Ahtna, an Alaskan Athabaskan language (Kari 1985). He compares Athabaskan use of place names in combination with directional words to a cartographer's use of a local plane coordinate mapping system, saying they offer, "hundreds of options for precise description of locations in relation to named features" (Kari 1989:142).…”

Section: Research On Athabaskan Directionalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous Linguistics and Land Claims: The Semiotic Projection of Athabaskan Directionals in Elijah Smith's Radio Work

Moore

2007

J Linguistic Anthropol

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In recent decades, land claims and language revitalization have emerged as prominent forms of indigenous activism in many parts of the world. Activists' indigenous language performances merit special attention since they commonly foreground the semiotic resources of their languages and reference the social structures in which they are embedded. This article examines a co-performance by Yukon native leader Elijah Smith and Southern Tutchone elder Solomon Charlie that epitomizes the use of indigenous linguistic resources to assert native rights and identity in innovative contexts. In particular, Charlie's account exemplifies the essential roles of deictic terms as bridges between micro-level narrative processes and the macro-level social fields of contemporary society in which indigenous identity is projected. [place, deixis, Athabaskan languages, indigenous activism, language ideology] O ver the course of many years work with native elders engaged in language revitalization efforts in the Yukon Territory, the authors became interested in the ways fluent speakers use the grammatical resources of their languages to promote indigenous identity and tailor their performances for contemporary social contexts. Pursuing these interests, we examined the linguistic details of selected public indigenous language performances and researched the history of indigenous activism in the region. While our studies have focused on the Yukon, they address topics of central concern in linguistic anthropology, including deixis, performance, cultural identity, and indigenous language ideology.The Yukon is particularly fertile ground for studies of indigenous languages and activism, and one of us (Tlen) has played a significant role in efforts to gain recognition of native rights and revitalize the use of native languages in the Territory. 1 Indigenous activism emerged in the Yukon as a response to the domination and marginalization of the native population by non-natives. The tumultuous influx of miners and settlers during the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1898) brought sweeping social and economic changes to the Yukon, and the subsequent imposition of Euro-Canadian

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Environmental adaptation in language

Hansen

O’Meara

2020

Lang. Dyn. Change

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We argue that the human ability to linguistically describe spatial locations, relations and paths is likely to contribute importantly to human survival, and that consequently the relation between linguistic elements and structures used in spatial reference, and the environment in which humans navigate, ought to be of concern for evolutionary studies of language. We make the case for systematically studying the correspondences between the structures of human spatial language and the spatially structured practices of human groups within specific landscapes, and for considering this relation within a diachronic framework, as a process of cultural and linguistic adaptation to the physical environment. The last section presents the research design of the Nahuatl Space Project, which investigates the possibility of environmental adaptation of spatial language in four varieties of the Nahuan languages of Mexico.

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A Note on Athapaskan Directionals

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes

Yellowknives Dene and Gwich’in Stellar Wayfinding in Large-Scale Subarctic Landscapes

Indigenous Linguistics and Land Claims: The Semiotic Projection of Athabaskan Directionals in Elijah Smith's Radio Work

Environmental adaptation in language

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