Indigenous Toponyms in the Antipodes: A Gazetteer-Based Study

Abstract

During the centuries of Britain’s colonial expansion, English was transplanted to the four corners of the globe, and became an extensive and prolific borrower of general lexical items and toponyms from indigenous languages. The Englishes of Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji are three typical examples. Indigenous loanwords and toponyms comprise one of the most distinctive features of these Englishes, and are regularly used to express national identity. Although these nations share a common colonial language, they differ markedly in their indigenous cultures and languages, the way they were occupied, and the colonizers’ attitudes towards indigenous peoples. These factors significantly influenced relationships between the two groups, and resulted in distinct patterns and degrees of indigenous borrowings into the three regional varieties of English. This gazetteer-based study provides evidence of these patterns and degrees of borrowing through an analysis of the number and distribution of indigenous toponyms in the three jurisdictions. It also considers the various linguistic, sociocultural, attitudinal, and historical factors that shaped place naming.

Keywords:

• Australia
• New Zealand
• Fiji
• toponyms
• place names
• indigenous

Notes

1. A gazetteer is an alphabetical index or directory of place names in a jurisdiction. Nowadays, they are compiled by government agencies to provide information on the location and spelling of place names.

2. Chi-square analyses could not be conducted on any other data as too many expected frequencies were below 5.

3. The estimated indigenous population in Tasmania in 1788 (the year of British occupation) was 4500. By 1861, this had been reduced to a mere 18 (Smith 1980; Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009).

4. A “clay pan” is a shallow depression, generally circular in outline (varying in diameter from a few to several hundred metres), floored with clay, bare of vegetation, and holding water for a time after rain. A “rockhole” is a hole excavated in solid rock by water action. A “soak” is a damp or swampy area around the base of granite rocks or in an otherwise dry watercourse.

5. On 17 October, 2013, New Zealand officially introduced alternative names for its North and South Islands. They can now be referred to as the North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, or the South Island or Te Waipounamu – or both names can be used together. They are not dual names, as this would have meant both the English and Māori names would have had to be used together on official documents e.g. Te Ika-a-Māui / North Island and Te Waipounamu / South Island. Alternative names would also help preserve New Zealand’s heritage in both languages (Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) 2013).

6. The PCPN coordinates, promotes, and communicates the consistent use of geographic place names in Australia. Its membership comprises all the official naming authorities in Australia.