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I just know it can be controversial, and the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm/Kwikwetlem even open with “kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem)” on their pronunciation guide. I personally think it’s great that Colony Park is now ƛ̓éxətəm, I just wish it was generally preferred to display it as ƛ̓éxətəm (tla-hut-um).
This isn’t a problem specific to indigenous languages. I like J.J. McCullough’s take on the difficulty of names. The reality is, that pretty much everyone in Canada is going to be familiar with the basic Latin alphabet. There might be some disagreement between unilingual French and English speakers, but it’s a pretty much universal orthography for Canada.
Who is the leader of Russia, China, or even Ukraine? I’m not going to be able to read Владимир Путин,习近平, or Володимир Зеленський.
There are several different ways to deal with this, and none are perfect, and all have their strengths. But ultimately, if I am renaming a park in Port Coquitlam, I’m going to need to render the name in some usable form of people are going to use it.
Where I have to cool my jets though, is in not Kwikwetlem, I’m not learning Kwikwetlem, and it’s not my call.
The problem is that PNW indigenous languages use sounds that do not exist in English, French, or Latin, or even Phoenician (for OG alphabet nerds). The “ƛ̓” isn’t really tl, it’s related to the “barred L”. Again, I have approximately zero fluency in Kwikwetlem, but I believe it is the same sound as in CW tloos (good/right/proper) or tlap (find). However, even if you mispronounced those words, I’m happy if you actually read them and maybe even learned them.
Sorry for the second long rant, and I don’t even know if the original commenter was curious or annoyed, but it is a perfectly valid question. I can (badly) read letters written over a hundred years ago by people in their own words, but I can’t read a park name. I just really wish more effort was put into making indigenous languages more accessible. Part of the benefit of renaming these places is the opportunity to introduce people to local languages.
Even if everyone on this thread is thoroughly up to date on Kwikwetlem preferred orthography, there will be someone walking by that park tomorrow, next month, next year. Maybe they’ve just moved to the neighborhood. This might be their first introduction to the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language. How am I going to type that into Google maps?
Sometimes the aim is to make the language exclusive, to raise a barrier to entry. To make the interloper uncomfortable. Which I get, but I suppose I’m just more worried about the survival of these languages. 34, in one province! Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure BC accounts for over 50% of indigenous languages in Canada (it’s all those mountains).
I just know it can be controversial, and the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm/Kwikwetlem even open with “kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem)” on their pronunciation guide. I personally think it’s great that Colony Park is now ƛ̓éxətəm, I just wish it was generally preferred to display it as ƛ̓éxətəm (tla-hut-um).
This isn’t a problem specific to indigenous languages. I like J.J. McCullough’s take on the difficulty of names. The reality is, that pretty much everyone in Canada is going to be familiar with the basic Latin alphabet. There might be some disagreement between unilingual French and English speakers, but it’s a pretty much universal orthography for Canada.
Who is the leader of Russia, China, or even Ukraine? I’m not going to be able to read Владимир Путин,习近平, or Володимир Зеленський.
There are several different ways to deal with this, and none are perfect, and all have their strengths. But ultimately, if I am renaming a park in Port Coquitlam, I’m going to need to render the name in some usable form of people are going to use it.
Where I have to cool my jets though, is in not Kwikwetlem, I’m not learning Kwikwetlem, and it’s not my call.
The problem is that PNW indigenous languages use sounds that do not exist in English, French, or Latin, or even Phoenician (for OG alphabet nerds). The “ƛ̓” isn’t really tl, it’s related to the “barred L”. Again, I have approximately zero fluency in Kwikwetlem, but I believe it is the same sound as in CW tloos (good/right/proper) or tlap (find). However, even if you mispronounced those words, I’m happy if you actually read them and maybe even learned them.
Sorry for the second long rant, and I don’t even know if the original commenter was curious or annoyed, but it is a perfectly valid question. I can (badly) read letters written over a hundred years ago by people in their own words, but I can’t read a park name. I just really wish more effort was put into making indigenous languages more accessible. Part of the benefit of renaming these places is the opportunity to introduce people to local languages.
Even if everyone on this thread is thoroughly up to date on Kwikwetlem preferred orthography, there will be someone walking by that park tomorrow, next month, next year. Maybe they’ve just moved to the neighborhood. This might be their first introduction to the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language. How am I going to type that into Google maps?
Sometimes the aim is to make the language exclusive, to raise a barrier to entry. To make the interloper uncomfortable. Which I get, but I suppose I’m just more worried about the survival of these languages. 34, in one province! Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure BC accounts for over 50% of indigenous languages in Canada (it’s all those mountains).
Sorry for rant part 2.
Just want to say I enjoyed reading this and hope you’ll share more knowledge on the Fediverse