REPORT: The International Symposium on Place Names – Clarens (South Africa) 18 – 20 September 2019:
The International Symposium on Place Names (Clarens (South Africa) from 18 to 20 September 2019).
The conference team
Organizing Committee
Symposium Coordinator: Carla Bester (Department Sudafrican Sign Language and Deaf Studies, UFS, University of Free State)
Symposium Assistant & Short Course Coordinator:
Jani de Lange (Department South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies, UFS)
Prof. Theodorus du Plessis (Department South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies, UFS)
Prof. Peter E. Raper, Executive member of scientific and organizing committee
Scientific Committee
Herman Beyer (Namibia)
Paulo Márcio Leal de Menezes (Brazil): Common Vice-Chair Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy)
Peter Jordan (Austria): ICA Chair, Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy
Lucie A. Möller (RSA): Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
Cosimo Palagiano (Italy): IGU Chair, IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy
Peter Raper (RSA): Member of the Steering Board, Joint IGU/ICA Commission on Toponymy; Research Fellow, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
Theodorus du Plessis (RSA); Director, Unit for Language Facilitation and Empowerment, UFS
The International Symposium on Place Names was held in Clarens (South Africa) from 18 to 20 September 2019. The theme chosen this year was: recognition, regulation, revitalization: place names and indigenous languages. After the welcome greetings of Prof. Theo du Plessis and Peter Jordan, the latter on behalf of the IGU-ICA Joint Commission on Toponymy Prof. Jordan illustrated the “Current geographical research directions in toponymy”: the toponymic research (i) in cartography gives the obvious importance of place names for map reading and in the various choices a map editor has when defining the place-names system of a specific map, (ii) in geography geographical spaces and geographical features as human constructs have become the prevailing paradigm in this science. Jordan highlights some major research currents such as looking at place names as mediators between human and space.
Charles Pfukwa seeks to locate toponymy in the indigenous languages in Zimbabwe and beyond. He briefly examines some of the theory that anchors toponymic research in the region and beyond.
Emphasis will be in theme such as oral cartography, indigenous languages and conservation, politics and power, as well as other issues of the 21st century that will influence research in toponymy in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
Frédéric Giraut argues that there types of political contexts conduct to neotoponymic production: revolution, conquest and boosterism (commodification and place branding).
Palesa Khotso focus attention on Roma in Lesotho and its inhabitants Basotho. At Roma, like in almost all towns and villages in Lesotho, there are no boards indicating place names, because they have been eradicated together the history and the culture they carried. The study recommends to preserve and conserve indigenous place names in Roma town and perhaps other Lesotho towns and villages.
Helena Liebenberg looked the VOC (early Dutch East India Company ) Daghregisters of the Cape of Good Hope, daily journal in which important events were meticulously recorded By disseminating this series of Cape archival documents covering the VOC Period (1652-1795) one is able to follow the tracks of a wealth of not only indigenous place names, but also the names of indigenous tribes and their captains and chieftains by VOC officials during expeditions into the unknown and vast interior and as far as Mozambique along the Eastern Cape coastline.
Jani de Lange presented a paper about the Dictionary of Southern African Place Names, which identifies 735 names with a NBICL (Non-Bantu Indigenous Click Languages): These names can provide guidance in an inclusive restoration process. The focus specifically falls on the restoration of NBICL place names.
Lucie Möller presents a well-known method to uncover the origins and meanings of ancient indigenous place names, which works from translated toponymic texts, especially those taken from toponymic cluster formation in a region. This method of detecting, through translated toponyms, previously unknown or historically ‘lost’ names contributes to a base of cultural language artefacts.
Peter Raper pointed out that the diversity of Bushman language and the proliferation of orthographic rules applicable to modern language preclude the restoration of Bushman place names, unless the standardised traditional conventions applicable for centuries to the individual extinct language are employed.
Riemer Reinsma tries to identify regional linguistic characteristics in the nicknames and tries to realte them to specific existing locations. Two factors may be supposed to have played a part in making some really existing locations inspirational: 1) their remoteness, and 2) their agrarian character, But a third factor must be considered: the linguistic distance between regional languages concerned and the standard language.
Zvinashe Mamvura examines the influence of the social realities obtained in the European society on the system that the Europeans used to assign names to places in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
Reet Hiiemäe describes the historical epidemics and their consequences (e.g. outburst or stoppimg of plague (in Estonian katk), burial places) are often preserved in combination of oral tradition and associate landscape toponyms (actually 95 % of plague lore accounts contain toponyms). The author draws parallels with more recent cases of epidemics (e.g. AIDS, Ebola), showing that similar narrative mechanisms have a rather universal character that becomes visible also in less mythological context.
Frédéric Giraut focuses on the 2018 International Symposium on African Contemporary Place Naming in Niamey, an initiative for an African Neotoponymy Observatory in Network, which was launched conjointly by the University of Geneva and Niamey, with the support and participation of many African and European Toponymysts.
Marie Rieger remembers the exploration of Oaskar Baumann in the of Usambara mountains in 1888 and 1890, with the aim of creating a map that was actually published together with two travelogues containing the names of more than 200 geo-objects. Reviewing the list today, a number of names came down to us unaltered, e.g. Bumbuli, Magamba, Mlalo,. Others have adjusted their spelling, but are still recognisable, whereas other changed considerably. Rieger will conduct a study in order to trace stability and change in Usumbara’s toponomasticon.
Sindiso Zhou et al. trace the place-naming pattern in Bulawayo’s We need New Names, their reading of which indicate that people not only need new names in the post-colonial state dealt with in the text, but also in the places, which need to be named to reflect what has become of them following the political, cultural, social and especially economic decay that has taken place in the country.
SL Ntuli explains that through the course of history, some of South African landscape names have been subjugated by foreign languages, moving some of them almost into oblivion. The focus of the study is on the coastal belt of KwaZulu-Natal, mainly the North Coast.
Johan Lubbe presented a paper on the role of political, cultural and linguistic factors in the naming, preservation and renaming of indigenous street names and suburbs in Bloemfontaein. He distinguishes three main periods, each characterised by a dominant ideology: 1) 1846-1945: A British imperialistic and English–orientated period; 2) 1945-1994: a white Afrikaner nationalistic and Afrikaans-orientated period; 3) Post 1994: A black African nationalistic and English–orientated period.
L Theodorus du Plessis referred to South African Constitutional Review Committee which has recently recommended that South African Sign Language (SASL) be declared the country’s 12th official language and that the constitution be amended accordingly.
During the excursion the scenic view of Golden Gate National Park was admired, with view of the amazing rock features that are close to the road and herds of wild game.
In the Basotho Village it is possible to learn how the Basotho people have evolved from way back in the 1600′s up until present time. It is possible to visit their homes and to learn some of their culture. Early, Middle and Late Stone Age sites are of considerable interest.
Call for Papers: 23rd meeting of the Working Group on Exonyms, Ljubljana Mar. 2020 (in conjunction with the Terminology Working Group meeting)
Dear friends and colleagues,
As already announced earlier, we have planned the 23rd UNGEGN Working Group on Exonyms Meeting to take place 19-21st March 2020 in Ljublijana, Slovenia. This meeting will be held together with the Terminology Working Group, and will be hosted by the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The venue is Prešeren’s hall at the Research centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Novi trg 4, Ljubljana, Slovenia).
The meeting schedule is to have paper presentations and discussions on 19th (Thu, whole day) and 20th (Fri, morning) March 2020, followed by the Terminology Working Group in the afternoon of 20 Mar, and a fieldwork excursion on 21st Mar (Sat).
There is no participation fee for the meeting, but there may be a small charge for the excursion. Participants are asked to arrange for their transportation and accommodation on their own. A small list of hotels near the meeting venue is attached below for your information. Meals during the meeting are also to be paid by the participants.
As for the leading theme for this meeting I would like to suggest “Remaining ambiguities of the endonym/exonym divide”. Notions such as “exonymoids” and “endonymoids” have been suggested in the past, where do they fit in the scheme of things? Would a proposition of a “third term” in addition to endonym and exonymbe useful?
As usual in the previous meetings, any other topics connected with exonyms are also welcome, such as more practical case studies on implementing existing resolutions on exonyms. You are also very welcome to introduce a new topic that needs to attract our interest in your opinion. And you are of course always welcome to report about your own projects connected with exonyms. At the moment we don’t have plans on publishing a book containing the proceedings, but probably we can collate the papers into a pdf file and make it available
to the public.
The Terminology Working Group meeting will consider definitions of bilingualism & multilingualism as well as continued open discussion on proposals to the glossary, and making progress against the docket of glossary terms.
As always, the meeting is by no means confined to Working Group or UNGEGN members (if such membership existed). Everybody interested is very welcome.
Best Regards,
Kohei Watanabe, convenor of exonym WG
Please download the attached pdf
IGU International Geographical Congress of Istanbul, 17-21 August 2020
Session on Toponymy
Place names as indicators of human perception of space
From the perspective of geography, place names are not only explaining map symbols and cannot only serve as tools of orientation in the real world. They also tell us, how humans in various historical periods, of various cultures and in different parts of the world have perceived their environment, geographical space around them. By naming, to specify the point, they highlighted what looked important for them on the background of their culture and interests. Farmers, e.g., had a view on their environment different from herdsmen or seafarers, people in the mountains a view different from lowland dwellers, inhabitants of the temperate zones different from people in tropical regions. But even within a given society attitudes towards space and places reflecting themselves in the use of place names may vary by age groups, educational strata, gender and other aspects and thus shed a light on how people perceive their environment. Children, e.g., like to apply special names to features at places where they play. The spatial pattern of street names stored in the memory of persons can tell something about their range of activities and even about their political orientation, if they, e.g., maintain the already abandoned name commemorating a politician or a political event and refrain from using the new, now official name. Country names and names of regions and landscapes can tell something about how the name-givers as the (once) dominant group conceived themselves and this section of space. The use of exonyms reveals the network of external relations of a community and can indicate the process of globalization. Place names can thus be regarded as condensed narratives about name givers and name users. It is the intention of this session to explore this field in the historical (diachronic) as well as topical (synchronic) dimension, also under the aspect of globalization and localization.
HERITAGE GEOGRAPHIES: Politics, Uses and Governance of the Past: Lecce, Posponed to 26-28th May
POSPONED TO 26-28TH MAY 2021
HERITAGE GEOGRAPHIES: Politics, Uses and Governance of the Past “Cultural heritage is a
group of resources inherited from the past which people identify, independently of ownership, as a
reflection and
The deadline for early bird payment is postponed to April 20th.
The deadline for the registration is postponed to May 10th.
For conference registration:
http://conference.unisalento.it/ocs/index.php/heritagegeographies/index
/pages/view/registration
HERITAGE GEOGRAPHIES:
Politics, Uses and Governance of the Past
“Cultural heritage is a group of resources inherited from the past which people identify, independently of ownership, as a
reflection and expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It includes all aspects of
the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time” (Faro Convention, 2005)
SPRING 2020
Conference: Posponed to 26-28th May 2021
Post conference excursion:
HERITAGE GEOGRAPHIES: Session on Toponymy, all the details
Place names as a part of the cultural heritage
“What fossils are to biology, and sediments to geology, toponyms are to cultural history of a country because they reflect the various ethnic, economic, political and other changes in the past of the country.” This sentence of the Bulgarian linguist Petar Ilievski illustrates very well the meaning of place names as a part of the cultural heritage. But it highlights only one of the aspects relevant. Another is the role of place names in space-related identity building of individuals and social groups – an aspect even more geographical.
That place names are important parts of the cultural heritage is all but new to linguists and historians. Among geographers, however, this fact has received significantly more attention only in more recent decades. Traditional place names arepartly very old, have been shaped in a certainlinguistic, political, social and economicsituation and have partly been transferredto succeeding languages. They aretherefore a key to settlement and culturalhistory. They tell a lot about the characterand the essence of a place, earlier economicand linguistic situations. They shed also a light on the cultural disposition and structure of the name-giving community. They forman inter-related system of names in a certainregion, a “place-name landscape”, describinghistorical, but very often still existingsituations.Place names support space-relatedidentity building. Mentioning or memorisingthe name of a familiar place lets thewhole set of imaginations of a certain placearise, expresses or confirms the socio-emotionalrelation of a person to a place. Placenames are therefore an important elementof feeling at home, not the least forlinguistic minorities and indigenous groups.
This results in the demand for special protection for names in minority and indigenous languages, names in other receding languages and in dialects, the latter being subject to a significant erosion process due to the power of nation-wide media and trends towards cultural globalisation. Also exonyms need protection, since they are very often not standardised and not systematically documented. Dangers to which place names are exposedare partly provoked by the strongsymbolic power of place names. And it is indeed so that thedominant force in a society wants to have thedefinition power over them.Changes in dominance (at all spatial scales,from the country down to the settlement level;also from the political to the commercial sphere) may result in renaming. Other dangersemerge from inadequate legislation to protectplacenames, the loss of knowledge of particularnames, the changing way of life from rural tourban, the loss of oral traditions due to a lackof recording, globalisation and influence ofother cultures as well as indiscriminate renamingand perpetuation of incorrect/incorrectlyspelled versions of names.
The session will offer a forum to discuss all these various aspects and perhaps contribute to a better understanding of which important parts of the cultural heritage place names are.
Suggestions of potential paper topics (not pretending to be exhaustive):
- Place names as shedding a light on historical cultures and societies
- Place names as keys to settlement and cultural history
- Place names as supporting space-related identity building
- Place names as indicators of perceptions of space
- Naming motives as indicators of cultural dispositions
- Place names as indicators of historical anthropogenic structures (like former mining sites, transportation networks etc.)
- Local place-name systems
- Exonyms as integrated and traditional elements of a language
- Forces behind place-name changes
- Effects of place-name changes on an inherited place-name system
- Measures to protect place names as cultural heritage
- The question of standard language versus dialect name standardisation
- The value of variant name (allonym) collection and documentation by gazetteers and toponymic data files
- Field and house names as part of the cultural heritage
- Place names of minorities and indigenous groups as part of the cultural heritage
- The development of urban street-name systems as reflection of political and cultural history
Please find here: