Unpacking the Vocabulary of the Wide Open
The Language of Vastness Project at the North Dakota Institute of Vast Spaces investigates a fundamental question: How does language shape, and how is it shaped by, the experience of immense landscapes? We bring together linguists, philosophers, poets, and cognitive scientists to study the terminology, metaphors, and grammatical structures used to describe and conceptualize plains, steppes, deserts, and other open terrains. We examine everything from the precise vocabulary of indigenous languages for subtle landforms to the often-deficient jargon of modern planning documents, seeking to build a richer lexicon for engaging with these places.
Indigenous Linguistics as Deep Ecological Knowledge
A cornerstone of our work is documenting and analyzing the linguistic structures of Plains indigenous languages, such as Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota. These languages often contain intricate vocabularies for phenomena that English glosses over. There might be multiple distinct words for different types of wind based on direction, force, and season, or specific terms for the quality of light at dusk on the prairie. This isn't just poetry; it's precise, accumulated ecological observation encoded in grammar. We work with fluent elders and language revitalization programs to map these terms onto physical geography and ecological processes, revealing a sophisticated intellectual system for understanding vastness.
- Metaphor Analysis: Studying how we talk about space—as a 'sea' of grass, a 'blank' slate, a 'frontier'—and how these metaphors influence policy and perception.
- The Grammar of Scale: Investigating how different languages handle spatial relations and distance, affecting wayfinding and spatial reasoning.
- Silence and Speech: Researching the role of silence in communication within vast, quiet landscapes, and how narrative styles are adapted for long-distance storytelling.
- Neologism Workshops: Coining new words for modern concepts (e.g., 'skyglow,' 'solastalgia' for the plains) to fill gaps in our descriptive capacity.
Implications for Science, Art, and Policy
This linguistic work has profound practical implications. For scientists, a richer vocabulary allows for more precise hypothesis-forming and communication. An ecologist can better describe a soil condition or plant community using a borrowed indigenous term than a clumsy paragraph of English. For artists, it provides a palette of concepts to draw from. For policymakers, it highlights the conceptual biases embedded in terms like 'empty,' 'undeveloped,' or 'marginal' land, which can justify destructive practices. We advocate for the inclusion of place-based language in environmental impact statements and land management plans.
The project also explores the limits of language. Can words ever truly capture the feeling of standing under a 180-degree dome of stars? We study non-linguistic communication—art, gesture, sound—as complementary systems. Ultimately, the Language of Vastness Project seeks to heal a disconnect. Modern, urbanized language has evolved for dense, human-built environments and often fails us in the face of the immense and wild. By recuperating old words and forging new ones, by understanding the deep metaphors we live by, we aim to equip humanity with better tools for thinking, speaking, and ultimately caring for the vast spaces that remain. It is an effort to ensure that our outer landscapes are matched by an equally rich and respectful inner landscape of words and ideas.