Naming multiplicity: Taíno ecolinguistics and naming conventions, and implications for language reclamation and decolonizing environmental relationalities

Abstract

After centuries of genocide and colonization, there is a burgeoning Taíno resurgence movement in Puerto Rico and the diaspora coinciding with mounting calls for the decolonization of the islands. Within the increasingly popular current of reconnecting with Taíno culture as an alternative to present colonial lifeways, there is considerable interest in learning Taíno language, although it remains unclear how to reclaim such a sleeping language in contemporary times. Likewise, people on the islands are recognizing the social-ecological importance of returning to more traditional, intimate relations with the lands. Addressing both of these interests within the Taíno resurgence movement, this study focuses on naming dynamics for the environment within Taíno language as a way to reveal details about ancestral relations with and conceptions of the environment (environmental relationalities). This project uses the recorded pre-colonial Taíno lexicon for the biotic environment to explore Taíno language ontologies and ideologies in relation to pre-colonial biocultural systems. By focusing on naming multiplicity – the degree to which individual taxa have multiple names associated with them – this paper explores how various aspects of Taíno biocultural systems relate to Taíno naming conventions, and what those trends reveal about the underlying language ontologies and ideologies. The Taíno lexicon shows an overall trend towards naming multiplicity when compared to Linnaean classifications, with greater biocultural intimacy and functionality being associated with higher naming multiplicity. These results indicate the importance of Taíno language reclamation efforts not just reviving the Taíno lexicon as it was recorded, but also operationalizing the language ideology of naming multiplicity and giving further name to the environment around us. Furthermore, cultivating intimate relations with the land will be integral for guiding naming practices within such efforts toward Taíno language reclamation and decolonizing our environmental relationalities.