This paper proposes the notion that words mirror ideas, perspectives and worldviews. Etymologies and meanings of general words for ‘islands’ in a number of languagesin North and West Europe are then discussed. Here, islands are shown to be etymologicallyconstituted by the interplay between land and water, and which of these two is emphasizedvaries. In the third section, a number of Swedish island words are surveyed, in an attemptto illuminate the principle of linguistic relativity. Finally, the implications of these findingsfor island studies are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hgo-338 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Ronström, Owe |
| Publisher | Högskolan på Gotland, Avdelningen för Samhällsgeografi och etnologi, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada : Institute of Island Studies |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article in journal, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Island Studies Journal, 1715-2593, 2009, 4:2, s. 163-182 |
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