The Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Solega A Linguistic Perspective

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Binomials (totalling 63 %) now outnumber the obligate mononomials , and it is
very likely that at least some of the latter category could also be used in binomial
form. However, this remains to be confi rmed, as many of the bird name s from our
initial list (Table 4.1 ) were not recorded in the picture elicitation task.
The picture elicitation task also revealed the ease with which new names could
be coined for yet unnamed birds, or birds with which a speaker might be unfamiliar.
Some of these are given in Table 4.3. In one village, a speaker took great delight in
composing novel names for some birds that he was unable to identify—such
attempts were greeted with much amusement from the other Solega speakers par-
ticipating in the task, and indicated to us that the names being provided were indeed
nonce creations. Names like piṭre hakki and pigganakki were offered for a couple of
small birds—in Solega, piṭre refers to something that is small and useless, while
piggã means a young child who runs around restlessly, and does not listen to the
admonishments of his/her elders. Similarly guggalakki ( guggalu means ‘solitary’ or
‘loner’) could indicate a bird that is shy of humans, and is usually encountered by
itself in the forest. Such names may well be the product of a single speaker’s imagi-
nation, but could very easily become established in the lexicon of that speaker’s
village dialect, if s/he were to use it repeatedly and consistently for a particular ref-
erent (i.e. a particular species or group of species). Therefore, while it is tempting to

Table 4.3 Solega bird name s
for which reliable
identifi cations cannot be
provided

Solega name Possible identifi cation

da:sapaṭada hakki* Scimitar Babbler?

goregotã Kingfi sher? bee-eater?

goresubbã White-throated Kingfi sher

gu:ge

gubuḷegaṇṇa Owl? Oriental White-eye?

guḍugaḍe Spurfowl?

guggalakki* Laughing Dove

goujalakki Type of quail/ francolin?

guḍuga:ḍe hakki Type of quail/ francolin?

ka:nakki* ‘ Evergreen forest bird’

ka:nuguḍḍã*

ke:sehakki

kuigalakki

kusurihakki

ko:kunji

meṇḍegaṇa hakki ‘Large-eyed bird’

moḍevaḷakki

moṭṭesillã

ratna giṇi Vernal Hanging Parrot

soĩna gi:ṇa Vernal Hanging Parrot

solegitti hakki Paradise Flycatcher?

taragaḍakã Orange-headed Thrush

*After the Solega name indicates a probable nonce

coining.? indicates a high level of doubt

4.3 Solega Bird Nomenclature