The interplay between local and wider geographical uses of directional terms in West Greenlandic

• Main Authors: Trondhjem, Naja Blytmann, Fortescue, Michael David
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; eskimo*; greenlandic; Upernavik
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/the-interplay-between-local-and-wider-geographical-uses-of-directional-terms-in-west-greenlandic(33b7be1b-5bca-49e0-a9a2-ea105390598b).html

The interplay between local and wider geographical uses of directional terms in West Greenlandic. Like in many of the 'landmark' orientation systems of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, there is potential ambiguity in West Greenlandic between the use of directional terms in the local setting and when referring to a wider geographical area. This is in part due to the influence of the cardinal system of Danish (and the other European languages), but is also inherent in the native system itself as it can be reconstructed prior to contact with the West. How this ambiguity pans out (and is contextually resolved) in the northwestern hunting district will be illustrated with help of maps and prictures from around the small town of Upernavik. Although the Greenlandic (Eskimo) orientation system has been described in some detail in the linguistic literature, how it is actually used on a daily basis in real-life settings and situations has not been adequately investigated.