143with the exception of a handful of landscape terms—these are further discussed
below. Following the basic descriptions of all landscape types, I discuss how the
Solega might perceive these very different landscapes as a patchwork of vegetation
types, climatic zones and resource-producing areas. Most importantly, it will
become apparent that when other aspects of Solega TEK are considered in
conjunction with their conception of landscape/forest types, the latter comes to
represent a dynamic cognitive map —one which is updated with the change of
seasons to take into account the movements of wild animals and the availability
of plant resources. Transcripts in which Kannada was the dominant language of
communication have been labelled (K), while those in Solega have been labelled
(S). Given the mixed composition of the groups, however (I as an English and
Kannada ‘speaker’, and the consultants used to speaking a mixture of Kannada and
Solega), many of the utterances are not in ‘pure’ code.
5.3 Landscape/Forest Types in Solega
All forest types in Solega can be loosely classifi ed as either male ka:ḍu ‘ hill forest ’ and
na:ḍu ka:ḍu ‘plains forest’; male and na:ḍu incidentally, are terms are used by modern
Kannada speakers as well. It is possible that these are recent Kannada borrowings into
Solega ( tho:pu ka:ḍu being the Solega equivalent of male ka:ḍu , and (h)orega:ḍu
being the Solega equivalent of na:ḍu ka:ḍu , see below); however, given the large
overlap between the Solega and Kannada lexica, this would be quite hard to prove.
Nevertheless, these two words are quite interesting for the following reasons:
- Even though Solega consultants would occasionally use the word male ka:ḍu
when talking about ‘their’ forest, some equated it with the Solega term tho:pu
ka:ḍu (discussed below), suggesting that there was no difference between the
two.
2 ) Male ka:ḍu does indeed seem to be a superordinate term for a range of forest
types that have names in Solega (see Extract I). The Kannada word ‘ male ’ could
be glossed as ‘ hill forest ’, and lacks the fi ne resolution of the other Solega land-
scape/forest terms described below.
Extract I (K)
(AS) Male ka:ḍu andare?
(What does ‘ male ka:ḍu ’ mean?)
(JS) Phullu male ka:ḍu
(It’s all male ka:ḍu (here).)
(JV) Ellanu miks irutte
(It’s everything mixed up.)
(JS) Ella miks irutte, phullu. Alli aḷḷa ka:ḍu baratte, koḷḷa baratte, go:re
baratte, guḍdaga:ḍu baratte, tho:pu ka:ḍu, arre ka:ḍu, i : male ka:ḍu mad-
hyadalli ella ka:ḍu baratte.
5.3 Landscape/Forest Types in Solega