A Pidginization-Based Model of Transition Within the Built
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ASPIRATION, ADAPTATION, AND INVOCATION: A PIDGINIZATION-BASED MODEL OF TRANSITION WITHIN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT OF NORTHWEST COAST TOWNS Douglas E. Deur B.s., university of Oregon, 1990 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Geography \ Douglas Deur 1994 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY June, 1994 ~llrights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Douglas Eugene Deur Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Aspiration, Adaptation And Invocation: A Pidginization- Based Model Of Transition Within The Built Environment Of Northwest Coast Towns Examining Committee: Chair: J.A.C. Brohman, Assistant Professor Associate Professor P.L. ~agnir Professor Emeritus R.B. Horsfall, \- Assistant Professor - D.E. ~urbev;lia5, ~ssistantProfessor - Department of Geography and Anthropology Eastern Washington University External Examiner Date Approved: June 6. 1994 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay As~iration.Ada~tation And Invocation: A Pidginization-Based Model Of Transition Within The Built Environment Of Northwest Coast Towns Author: Douglas Eugene Deur (narnc) Aspiration, Adaptation and Invocation: A pidginization-Based Model of Transition Within the Built Environment of Northwest Coast Towns Abstract In recent years, within Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, traditional resource industries have experienced downturns, while metropolitan populations have increased markedly. The readily accessible portion of this region's resource hinterland has simultaneously become a recreational hinterland. Thus, in order to persist, many towns of the hinterland have rapidly converted to a tourism-based economy. One of the most striking physical manifestations of this trend is the modification of townscapes, in order to make towns more appealing to tourists. Thus, the built environments of these towns are being modified for expressive purposes. While many authors have addressed the expressive use of the built environment, few of the existing models are appropriate for application to townscapes within dynamic social contexts. I therefore propose a model derived from studies of linguistic pidginization. Pidgin languages emerge during periods of increased inter-group contact, providing an intersubjective means of communication. These languages exhibit regular features, which reflect the particular limitations of a new and spontaneously generated language: elements from each language are fused together and simplified, in order to facilitate basic exchanges of ideas, while pre-existing terms exhibit semantic 'drift,' in which groups iii apply old terms to heretofore unknown objects and concepts. Analyzing historical events on the Northwest coast, I argue that the recent creation of tourist-oriented townscapes within pre- existing communities reflects a process analogous to linguistic pidginization, wherein builders attempt to balance adaptive and inertial socio-economic pressures. Utilizing historical and contemporary photographs of the towns of the Northwest coast, I demonstrate that the built environments of these towns exhibit changes analogous to the structural changes within a pidginized language. ~hus,elements which assist tourists in navigation and the recognition of commercial establishments, such as signs, have exhibited 'simplification,' adapted for visibility and broad intelligibility. The use of other features has rapidly 'drifted,' as in the case of vernacular residential architecture which has been utilized in unprecedented tourist-oriented commercial applications. And many features have exhibited 'fusion,' as with new commercial structures which combine local vernacular architecture with elements from external architectural traditions. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisors - Len Evenden, Bob Horsfall, and Phil Wagner - for their patient guidance, helpful comments, and challenging criticism. Enthusiastic thanks are also directed to the Department of Geography staff, particularly Marcia Crease, for cheerful assistance which far exceeded the call of duty. My thanks to the participants in Phil Wagner's ongoing Cultural Geography seminar, particularly Peter Rowbotham, for posing some challenging questions. Thanks also to Brian White for his enthusiastic asistance prior to my Vancouver Island field work. For good conversation, and occasional technical assistance I would like to thank Michael Handley, Jennifer Handley, Alex Cartwright, Neil Guy, and Christopher Syrnyck. For good conversation and at times extensive technical assistance, I thank Marc Levy. Thanks also to my family, including Ellie and Noel Nelson, Louise and Richard Handley, and my Parents, Mike and Carol Pierce for coastal accomodations, good food, advice, historical information, and personal connections. For assistance at various stages of my historical ~esearch,I would like to thank the following people and organizations: James Scott, Director of the Center for pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington university (retired); Jeffery Smith and the volunteer staff of the ClatsoP County Historical Society Archives; the staff of the Oregon ~istoricalSociety Archives ; the Tillamook County, Oregon Pioneer Museum Archives; the Jefferson County, Washington Historical Society Research Library; John Quay, Director of the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum; Dorothy Mills of the Coquille River Historical Museum; Anne Smeaton of the Cannon Beach Historical Society; Bruce Weilepp of the Pacific County Historical Museum; Margret Kaspoff and the volunteers of the Ucluelet and Area Historical Society. I also received valuable assistance from the staffs of the following governmental agencies: the City of Bandon, Oregon; the City of Florence, Oregon; the City of South Bend, Washington; the District of Tofino, ~ritishColudbia; Oregon State Parks; Wash- ington State Parks; the pacific Rim National Park; B.C. Provincial Parks; the B.C. Ministry of Tourism; the B.C. Royal Provincial Museum Archives and Map Archives; the Soil Conservation Service offices in Tillamook and Astoria; the Vancouver office of Statistics Canada; the Clatsop County, Oregon Assessoris Off ice; the Tillamook County, Oregon Surveyor's Office. Thanks also to the many residents and proprietors of the towns of the Northwest coast who enthusiastically fielded my questions, but were nonetheless not cited in the final draft. My gratitude is also extended to the proprietors of Bill's Tavern and Osburnis Ice Creamery in Cannon Beach for allowing me to reproduce the historical photos from their interior walls. And a tip of the hat to all those real estate agents who sent me colourful brochures and tried to sell me ocean-view Property. And more than anyone, thanks to my wife, Faith, for her patience, conversation, encouragement, and photographic expertise. Table of Contents Chapter Page I. Introduction: A Region in Transition 1.1 The emerging Northwestern region 1.2 Changing townscapes of the Northwest coastal hinterland 1.3 ~idginizationas a source of an alternative hypothesis 11. Ghosts in the ~achine:The Ontological 13 Foundations of the Literature on Communication in the Built Environment 2.1 The concern with meaning and authenticity 13 2.2 The search for linguistic rules in the landscape 22 2.3 ~n alternate view: built landscapes as 25 interactive expression Words, Gestures and Meaning: An Overview and Critique of Contending Theories of Communication in the Built Environment 3.1 The literature regarding communication and built form 3.2 The semiotic approach 3.2.1 Critique of the semiotic model 3.3. The nonverbal approach 3.3.1 Critique of the nonverbal model 3.4 ~orphogeneticforms of analysis 3.5 The symbolic approaches 3.5.1 Phenomenology 3.5.2 'Symbolic' 3.5.3 Radical structuralist symbolism IV. Languages of Contact, Fusion and Transition: 72 Theories of ~inguisticPidginization 4.1 Contact languages 72 4.2 Models and diagnostic features of pidgin languages 75 4.2.1 ~ocio-culturalfunctions and features 78 4.2.2 ~inguisticfeatures 87 4.2.2.1 simplification of elements from 89 parent languages 4.2.2.2 simplification of communicative functions 91 4.2.2.3 Drift in usage or 'fossilization' 92 4.2.2.4 Fusion 93 4.3 Issues of measurement 94 V. Landscapes of Contact, Fusion and Transition: Built Form as ~idginizedCommunication 5.1 Issues of model transferability 5.2 The model transferred 5.3 Lessons for the 'postmodern' landscape 5.4 ~utomotiveand commercial landscapes 5.5 Contact phases and the simplification of communicative elements and functions 5.6 Contact phases and drift or 'fossilization' 5.7 Contact phases and fusion VI. Emergent Tourist Landscapes as 125 Places of Contact, Fusion and Transition 6.1 Tourist landscapes as 'contact phenomenaf 125 6.2 Pressures encouraging simplification