Noting new nuances of Native American names
WHAT'S in a name? Power and politics, that's what! One evening last week my attention was drawn to a radio news story about place-names in Maine. According to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," a Native American representative to the Maine legislature is sponsoring a bill that would change the names of rivers, lakes and mountains that include the word "squaw". This story caught my attention because it is just the kind of language issue that the general public often considers trivial (or worse), but which socio-linguists, like myself, consider crucial.