Dimensions of Tŝilhqot’in toponymy: Language, heritage, and meaning
Date
2025
Authors
Doddridge, Shane Brooks
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Abstract
Tŝilhqot’in toponymy—the place names and place naming systems of the Tŝilhqot’in First Nation in British Columbia, Canada—is complex, multiplistic, and dynamic, rooted in notions of ancestral presences, happenings, perceptions, and territoriality that resonate across Tŝilhqot’in pasts, presents, and futures in culturally and ontologically specific ways. The particularities of Tŝilhqot’in place names therefore both highlight and reflect unique aspects of Tŝilhqot’in culture, language, history, geography, and world views. As contemporary applications call on Tŝilhqot’in place names—for example, to label maps, display on road signs, and adopt into official records—they put at risk the nuances of these more traditional dimensions. Novel toponymic practices of commemoration and recognition are therefore obfuscating deeper dimensions of heritage, language, and meaning, while paradoxically contributing to their preservation and dissemination. This thesis explores these themes through an ethnographic methodology emphasising ontological openness in order to highlight new theoretical possibilities that emerge from Tŝilhqot’in toponymic discourses in Tŝilhqot’in-specific contexts.
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Keywords
Toponymy, Tŝilhqot’in, Ethnography, Place names