Translating Cultural Landscapes in Grassland Pastoral Areas Based on Toponymic Semantics: A Case Study of Zhengxiangbai Qi, Xilin Gol League

Mongolian toponyms encode both natural and human information and serve as key carriers of the grassland cultural landscape. They help align the region’s natural scenery with its cultural value. This study builds a translational logic—symbol decoding—function interpretation—relational analysis—to convert cultural-landscape symbols and functions into spatial value. Grounded in the cultural-landscape framework of symbol–function–power, we recast symbolic “power” as spatial “value,” providing a theoretical basis for the translation path and clarifying the shared attributes of cultural meaning and spatial form. Using Zhengxiangbai Qi, Inner Mongolia as a case, we combine a toponym semantic network with landscape spatial analysis to decode cultural and spatial symbols in Mongolian place-names; we then interpret their functions through their referential, signifying, and simplifying roles. Next, we apply spatial autocorrelation and spatial clustering to resolve the element hierarchy of the cultural landscape, thereby achieving spatial translation, functional regeneration, and the shaping of “power” into “value.” Findings show that: (a) under the core theme of human–nature synergy, the cultural-landscape theory of value generation is supported; and (b) strong links exist between the toponym semantic network and landscape components. The common functional relations shared by cultural and landscape symbols can be turned into a pathway for value mining. The study verifies the applicability of cultural-landscape theory in grassland pastoral contexts and offers differentiated strategies for enhancing the spatial value of rural cultural-landscape resources. It advances a shift from interpretation to practice, supports the sustainable evolution of the human–environment relationship, and provides new ideas for uncovering local cultural value.