In shooting for the stars, this Trinidad & Tobago linguist highlights how language connects us · Global Voices
The official graphic used to announce the selection of linguist <PERSON>'s winning names for Trinidad and Tobago's entry in the International Astronomical Union's NameExoWorlds competition. Image courtesy Dr. <PERSON>, used with permission.
It would be a pretty cool thing to name a celestial body. Linguist <PERSON> can now add that distinction to her list of qualifications, ever since she won the Trinidad and Tobago segment of a global competition hosted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the authority charged with assigning designations to astronomical elements like stars and planets.
To mark the IAU's 100-year anniversary, the worldwide campaign was aimed at finding a pair of names — connected by a common theme — for an exoworld (the combination of a star and an exoplanet), which will become its official name (apart from its scientific designation) and would allow other planets, should more be discovered in the future, to be named after the same theme.
<PERSON>'s winning names for the new star and its co-relating exoplanet are Dingolay and Ramajay. Dingolay means “to twist and turn”, and Ramajay means “to sing”. Together, they represent Trinbagonians’ love of their culture and a respect for the languages of their ancestors.
After a nationwide call for name suggestions, ten finalists were chosen for the NameExoWorlds competition. The general public was encouraged to vote on their pick for the names of Trinidad and Tobago’s official exoplanet and its host star.
<PERSON>, senior lecturer in astronomy at The University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine Campus and National Outreach Coordinator for the IAU, called the contest “a first in the history of astronomy for Trinidad and Tobago to have an opportunity to be immortalised among the stars.”
<PERSON>'s win was announced by the IAU in December 2019, and she's been rather busy ever since, not just with her new exoworld, but with her usual workload as senior lecturer in linguistics at the University of the West Indies.
When we finally got a chance to chat — quite fittingly after Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, since the monikers she proposed have cultural significance — it became apparent that her extensive knowledge of language played a key part in her name selections.
In this first installment of a two-part interview, <PERSON> shares how language connects us all.
Dr. <PERSON>, senior lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at The University of the West Indies’ St. 550
Augustine campus. Image courtesy Dr. <PERSON>, used with permission.
<PERSON> (JMF:) Congrats again on this amazing accomplishment! Does it feel any different now that the fanfare has died down a bit? Has the magnitude of having been responsible for naming something in the universe properly sunk in?
<PERSON> (JAF:) Thank you, and mèsi [Creole for “thanks”] to Dr. <PERSON> and her team, and to all those who shared my taste [in names] and voted for me. Congrats to my fellow finalists as well. It’s still amazing to me that we were even given a chance to be part of this historical naming campaign in the first place.
We [Trinidad and Tobago] were the only ones in the English-official Caribbean to participate. The only other Caribbean territories were Aruba, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. As far as I know, our names are also the only Patois or French Creole names [not to be confused with Jamaican Creole, also called Patois], and the only Caribbean Creole names at all. And if more celestial objects are found, we can continue to add more Trinbagonian names to the heavenlies.
The best part for me is this scripture verse: “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name” — so I’m still star struck.
<PERSON>: What inspired you to enter the contest in the first place? Are you an astronomy buff?
<PERSON>: I’m interested in our languages, words, naming/names, etymology, and language history. I am not an astronomy buff, though, of course, I stand in awe of the universe.
<PERSON>: Explain the rationale behind your name choices, the connectivity between the two words, and their meaning/resonance for Trinbagonians — linguistic, cultural and otherwise.
<PERSON>: We are a linguistically and culturally creative and complex people. 550