29 October 2009


There are terms [in Inuktitut] to mean arctic char, arctic char that are running upstream, arctic char that are moving down to the sea and arctic char that remain all year in the lake, as well as words for lake trout, salmon and so on. There is no word that means “fish”. Similarly, there are Inuktitut words for ringed seal, one-year-old ringed seal, adult male ringed seal, harp seal, bearded seal and so on. There is not word that means “seal”. Speakers of Inuktitut have to have precise information about the seals to which they refer. These are ways, perhaps, in which hunter-gatherer languages express, celebrate and enforce the importance of detailed knowledge of the natural world.
-- Hugh Brody (2000)

No comments: