Doctoral Dissertation: Ecologically Meaningful Toponyms: Linking a Lexical Domain to Production Ecology in the Peruvian Andes

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will investigate the relationship between language change and ecological change among Quechua/Spanish speakers of the Peruvian Andes. The project will specifically compare Quechua toponymic vocabulary (names and kinds of places) with production ecology (land use patterns), examining how language may reflect some of the behavioral changes in environmental management. It tests several hypotheses concerning the relationship between traditional versus introduced toponomy and cropping practices (indigenous and introduced). It also examines the relationship between indigenous and introduced toponomy and conservation versus "exploitation" ethics of the environment.