Conservation encrypted into everyday conversations

Fishing communities in Pulicat, Besant Nagar, Kovalam, Odiyur and Kaliveli bring less known coastal creatures into prominence by the common names they have given them

Landscape and language make up a virtuous circle. Through the human interface, they actively shape each other and are also open to being shaped. M Yuvan, author of A Naturalist’s Journal, puts his understanding of this connection succinctly. “Landscapes birth languages. You experience a landscape vividly through the language it has birthed,” he remarks. A landscape dictates the language necessary to describe its various constituents. For example, in a land-locked region, coastal terminology would hardly seep into everyday conversation. Language can however enrich the aspect of a landscape through imaginative metaphors.