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KEY QUESTION #4:
WHAT ROLE DOES
LANGUAGE PLAY
IN MAKING
PLACES?
(6 slides)
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE
PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?
Naming a place is a reflection of that place’s
influences & uniqueness
Geographers call place names “toponyms”
Gives us a glimpse into the history of a
place
Knowing who named the place & how
they chose the name says a lot
English professor George Stewart recognizes
10 basic types of place names
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE
PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?
They are:
Descriptive (Rocky Mts.)
Associative (Mill Valley, California)
Commemorative (San Francisco)
Commendatory (Paradise Valley, Arizona)
Incidents (Battle Creek, Michigan)
Possession (Johnson City, Texas)
Folk (Plains, Georgia)
Manufactured (Truth or Consequences, NM)
Mistakes(Lasker, NC---named after AK, it was misspelled)
Shift Names (relocated names like Lancaster, PA---settled
by people from Lancaster, England)
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE
PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?
Brazil has interesting toponyms
Most are Portuguese---reflecting Portuguese colonization
Many German place names in the South
German word for flower is Blume
German immigrants had a well-known fondness for
Brazilian tropical flowers
Therefore, there are cities named Blumenau, Blumberg,
Blumenhof, Blumenort, Blumenthal & Blumenstein
Reveals a flow of forced migration from West Africa
Many of the toponyms in one specific state originated in
either Benin or Nigeria
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE PLAY IN
MAKING PLACES?
When people change the toponym, they have the power to wipe out the
past and create a new future
• After decolonization
• After a political revolution
• To memorialize people or events
• To commodify or brand a place
For colonies that gain independence, they have to make the decision to
change the name
Upper Volta to Burkin Faso
Gold Coast to Ghana
Nyasaland to Malawi
Northern Rhodesia to Zambia
Southern Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
East Pakistan to Bangladesh
Netherlands East Indies to Indonesia
Changing Toponyms
When people change the toponym of a place, they have
the power to “wipe out the past and call forth the new.”
- Yi-Fu Tuan
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE
PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?
Coups & revolutions can cause toponym changes too
DRC is perfect example
Belgian Congo became Zaire after a revolution
Changed currency from the franc to the zaire
Changed the Congo River to the Zaire River
1997: Zaire became DRC after another revolution
Collapses of countries cause changes
In former Soviet Union, Leningrad was renamed Saint
Petersburg; Stalingrad renamed Volgograd
Both names that were used before the 1917
communist revolution
KQ #4: WHAT ROLE DOES LANGUAGE
PLAY IN MAKING PLACES?
Name changes also happen to memorialize
important people or events
Hundreds of parks & buildings named in this
way
Look at map on p. 174 about MLK street
names
Some places have begun buying, selling or
even trading place names
We see this in the naming of stadiums,
amusement parks, etc.
Where are MLK Streets in the US?