http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/ Alaskan languages and linguistics Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:06:19 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-314 tulugaq Mon, 04 Jun 2007 10:40:00 +0000 http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-314 Yes, it’s true that vanity plates are needless (hence the name, right?). I think it’s just the fact that the Alaska DMV has recently made it much easier to order custom plates - you can now do it online - and I think the price has dropped to $30 or $40. I doubt that outside Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other larger towns, vanity plates are as prevalent just because in tiny villages, people don’t drive everywhere. They walk or ride a 4-wheeler. Even in Anchorage, the largest city in the state, plates with Alaska Native words are hardly commonplace. Yes, it’s true that vanity plates are needless (hence the name, right?). I think it’s just the fact that the Alaska DMV has recently made it much easier to order custom plates – you can now do it online – and I think the price has dropped to $30 or $40. I doubt that outside Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other larger towns, vanity plates are as prevalent just because in tiny villages, people don’t drive everywhere. They walk or ride a 4-wheeler. Even in Anchorage, the largest city in the state, plates with Alaska Native words are hardly commonplace.

]]> http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-309 Michael Thu, 31 May 2007 09:48:19 +0000 http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-309 Two examples from the Northern Territory :- a number plate in Kriol reading 'Mutika', which - you guessed it - means 'motor car'; and another in Yolngu country reading Wititj, which is one of the names of the Creation ancestor snake around these parts. It makes hell of a change from inane and sexist vanity plates like IMAQT or LXIXR, but I can't say Aboriginal people in Northern Australia have taken it up in great numbers. People don't quite identify with the car as surrogate penis/identity statement/ wealth symbol in quite the same way; and vanity plates are a needless additional expense in a world racked by poverty in any case. Two examples from the Northern Territory :- a number plate in Kriol reading ‘Mutika’, which – you guessed it – means ‘motor car’; and another in Yolngu country reading Wititj, which is one of the names of the Creation ancestor snake around these parts.
It makes hell of a change from inane and sexist vanity plates like IMAQT or LXIXR, but I can’t say Aboriginal people in Northern Australia have taken it up in great numbers. People don’t quite identify with the car as surrogate penis/identity statement/ wealth symbol in quite the same way; and vanity plates are a needless additional expense in a world racked by poverty in any case.

]]> http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-307 tulugaq Tue, 29 May 2007 19:56:12 +0000 http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-307 Well hello! Seeing your license plate just made my day, so I hope you don't mind that I wrote about it online. I'm sure the Elders are pleased whenever you speak the language of their hearts, fluent or not. :) Well hello! Seeing your license plate just made my day, so I hope you don’t mind that I wrote about it online. I’m sure the Elders are pleased whenever you speak the language of their hearts, fluent or not.

]]> http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-305 Angela Tue, 29 May 2007 06:06:25 +0000 http://tulugaq.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/aleut-license-plate/#comment-305 Thank You! That is my license plate :) (white SUV) My paternal grandmother gave Unangax names to all her grandchildren - and she chose CHIXTAX for me since I was born in the month of April. With her and all my Elder relatives influences, I have come to appreciate our language, although I am far from fluent. I admire your enthusiasm to preserve the Native languages. Good Luck in your studies! :) Thank You! That is my license plate (white SUV)
My paternal grandmother gave Unangax names to all her grandchildren – and she chose CHIXTAX for me since I was born in the month of April. With her and all my Elder relatives influences, I have come to appreciate our language, although I am far from fluent. I admire your enthusiasm to preserve the Native languages. Good Luck in your studies!

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