Is there a #phenology of language?

We know that there's some sort of bioregionalism to language. British English certainly isn't the same as American English. There are numerous indigenous languages, many of which are endangered. That's not quite what I'm thinking about here.

carved stone table at Open Book

Photo by J. Harrington

Languages change over time. Words come and go, some stay but change their meaning. As seasons change, and climate change modifies the seasons as we've known them, presumably language could change to reflect the world to which it relates. Robert Macfarlane has written Landmarks to capture much of the local vernacular of placewords in Britain. David Lukas' Language Making Nature is a forward-looking tool to enrich our relationship with nature by creating new words.

window display at open book

Photo by J. Harrington

All of this started burbling about in the back of my mind as I once again discovered how incorrect I've been with some of the stereotypes I've used to track the world. Until recently, much of my thoughts about Kansas were dominated by the book What's the Matter with Kansas? I also thought, more positively from time to time, about Wes Jackson's Land Institute in Salinas. Reading William Least Heat-Moon's PrairyErth added some depth but wasn't particularly transformative. Yesterday, I came across the Kansas Area Watershed Council's web site. They've been publishing a bioregional journal for about two decades. That certainly doesn't fit the impression I was left with after reading "What's the Matter..."

This has been prompted because I keep feeling as though Minnesota is missing some (undefined) key pieces of the puzzle to move ahead successfully with Governor Dayton's proposal for a water ethic. If we aren't as successful as we should be, I won't be surprised to read, in the not too distant future, someone's version of What's the Matter with Minnesota? It may present an erroneous stereotype, but how many will care enough to look behind any presumed indifference to protecting our most critical resource? We can't, and don't, all live upstream.

Words are Birds

By Francisco X. Alarcón

words

are birds

that arrive

with books

and spring

they

love

clouds

the wind

and trees

some words

are messengers

that come

from far away

from distant lands

for them

there are

no borders

only stars

moon and sun

some words

are familiar

like canaries

others are exotic

like the quetzal bird

some can stand

the cold

others migrate

with the sun

to the south

some words

die

caged—

they're difficult

to translate

and others

build nests

have chicks

warm them

feed them

teach them

how to fly

and one day

they go away

in flocks

the letters

on this page

are the prints

they leave

by the sea

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