The Manito Topos Project: Place Naming and Toponymic Silencing in the Sierras of Northern Nuevo México and Southern Colorado

Author

Len N. BekéFollow

Publication Date

Spring 5-1-2023

Abstract

This dissertation reports on documentary research on vernacular toponymies in Manito communities in Nuevo México and Colorado. These toponymies are erased, obscured and delegitimized in official maps. Within the study area, vernacular antecedents for 49.5% of official names for natural features were documented, along with 280 previously unmapped names. These data were compared to the state-sanctioned toponymy to determine a typology of linguistic mechanisms of toponymic silencing. While a majority of official toponyms are based on Manito oral tradition, only 15.4% of the labels for natural features represent unaltered versions of names in that tradition. This dissertation theorizes the conceptual and social meanings of place names in light of cognitive-functional and sociolinguistic theory, and argues the official toponymic inventory results in impoverished construals of named places and misconstruals of Manito linguistic practice and geographic knowledge. Manitos contest this erasure in their everyday toponym usage and surrounding discursive practices.

Degree Name

Spanish & Portuguese (PhD)

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Spanish and Portuguese

First Committee Member (Chair)

Damián Vergara Wilson

Second Committee Member

Enrique Lamadrid

Third Committee Member

Christian Koops

Fourth Committee Member

Catherine Rhodes

Keywords

Nuevomexicano Spanish, place names, documentary linguistics, toponymic silencing, critical toponymy

Document Type

Dissertation

Comments

This is a revised version following suggestions from Mayra Estrada.

Recommended Citation

Beké, Len N.. "The Manito Topos Project: Place Naming and Toponymic Silencing in the Sierras of Northern Nuevo México and Southern Colorado." (2023). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/span_etds/147