Place and Space in Greenland

Place and Space in Greenland

Lenore Grenoble, Hilary McMahan, Alliaq Petrussen (Ilisimatusarfik, Greenland)

 
Our work on Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) investigates the intersections of spatial relations, landscape and naming practices, using the principles of ethnophysiography and landscape linguistics as a framework for our analysis. Kalaallisut toponyms and landscape terms exist within a complex domain of spatial language, coming together with an extensive demonstrative system, relational nouns signifying intrinsic topological relations, a coastal (and, more recently, cardinal) based orientation system, a complex system of slope terms and spatial locating verbs.