Plant names in three Pacific Northwest Indian languages -- Haida
(Skidegate and Masset dialects), Bella Coola, and Lillooet (Fraser
River "dialect") -- were analyzed semantically and taxonomically. A
computerized sorting system was developed to handle pertinent information
associated with these names and their corresponding plant types.
At the present time, each language contains an average of about
150 generic-level plant names, over 50% of which correspond in a one-to-
one fashion with botanical species. Some of the names have no meaning
other than as plant names, but most are analyzable into smaller
units of meaning, reflecting traditional beliefs, utilization, innate
characteristics of the plants, or their resemblance to some substance,
object, or other plant. Some of the generic terms are obviously borrowed
from other languages, and a number of taxa can be found in each
language which originally applied to indigenous species and have been
expanded in recent times to include cultivated or imported counterparts.
Each language contains a few general "life-form" plant names, a
number of intermediate taxa -- usually unnamed, and in Haida and Lillooet,
a few specific-level terms. None of the groups has an all-inclusive
word for "plant". There are also several specialized generic-
level terms in each language, and many general names for parts
of plants.
Cultural significance of plants correlates positively with the
degree of specificity of names applied to them, with the number of
specialized terms associated with them, and with the lexical retention
of their names in diverging dialects. Linguistic origin, floristic
diversity, cultural traits, inter-group contact, and especially the
recent acculturation of native peoples into "white" society, are believed
to be major factors influencing the character of phytotaxonomic
systems of the three study groups.
Maps of the study areas are provided, and appendixes are included
listing all plant names used in the study, their botanical correspondence,
and the utilization and cultural significance of the plants involved. / Science, Faculty of / Botany, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/42513 |
| Date | January 1973 |
| Creators | Turner, Nancy Jean |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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