Principles of toponyms (place names)

Аннотация

Toponyms (place names) represent language units denoting elements of topographic environment. The relevance of the study is caused by the need to develop the theory of toponymy and to systematize all the existing toponymic classifications. Place names have a complicated (multidimensional) nature, which should be taken into account while classifying them. Keywords: toponym, place name, toponymy, classification, principle, nickname This research is an attempt to highlight various principles according to which it is possible to group the place names. The research is based on 15000 British and 17000 American toponyms, received from toponymic 174 Scientific research results in pandemic conditions (COVID-19) dictionaries, reference books and electronic toponymic search systems GNIS (Geographic Names Information System) and Get-a-map. Toponyms can be classified according to the following principles: 1) parametric characteristics of an object, 2) ontological characteristics of an object, 3) type of toponymic basis, 4) etymological characteristics of place names, 5) motivational characteristics of place names, 6) chronological characteristics of place names, 7) structural characteristics of toponyms, 8) toponymic polysemy, 9) degree of toponymic nomination, 10) variety of toponymic nomination, 11) localization of an object. It is obvious that it is impossible to create a unified classification of place names, which would reflect the entire multidimensional nature of the toponymic vocabulary. Classifying toponymic nominations, one must consider the multifaceted (intra- and extra-linguistic) principles of allocation of toponymic units. Place names (toponyms) are the linguistic signs of a natural language denoting certain fragments of topographic space. These linguistic signs form a system, called a toponymic system , which is artificially contractual in character. Toponyms are a kind of repositories of political, social and cultural views of the society, which display certain language trends and peculiarities of word formation. Toponyms make up a significant part of the lexical fund of the language. According to some researchers, "toponymic layer constitutes 2-3% of common vocabulary" (Toporov, 1962: 56). There become fewer and fewer unnamed geographical objects as humankind learns and develops new geographical objects on the earth and expands its geographical horizons.The geographical name is a part of the lexical system of a particular nation. It is formed according to "the fundamental laws of the language and it functions in speech in accordance with its basic rules and traditions" (Leonovich, 1994: 55). Any geographical object has both a geographic term, which determines its type, and a geographical name; therefore, a topographic object is "named twice", enriching the semantics of a toponym. The aim of this research is to provide and systematize different principles of place names classification, taking into account their complicated (multidimensional) nature. The research is based on 15000 British and 17000 American toponyms, received from toponymic dictionaries, reference books and electronic toponymic search systems GNIS (Geographic Names Information System) and Get-a-map. The main disadvantage of classification schemes of toponyms is the impossibility to "fit all the variety of geographical names into the Procrustean bed of one classification" (Murzaev, 1996: 115). However, some linguists tried to classify toponyms combining different principles simultaneously. One of the first researchers to classify place names in any systematic manner was George R. Stewart. In 1954, he published an article 175 Scientific research results in pandemic conditions (COVID-19) in Names entitled "A classification of place names". His typology based on the “naming-process” recognizes ten main toponym types: 1) descriptive names and compass-point names (names that describe and characterize the object's quality or its location; 2) associative names (names that evoke associations with different objects); 3) incident names (names from an event associated with a person, G. Stewart also refers to this group acts of God, calendar names, animal names, names of human actions, names from feelings, names from sayings); 4) possessive names (names originated from some idea of ownership); 5) commemorative names (names given in memory or in honor of outstanding people and names for abstract virtues); 6) commendatory names (names given by some attractive peculiarities of a geographical object); 7) folk etymologies (names with false etymology); 8) manufactured names (names which have been consciously constructed of fragments of other words, or names from initials, There are a great number of place names in the English language. We analyzed over 32000 place names of Great Britain and the USA and distinguished 11 main principles according to which toponyms can be classified. The specificity of geographical names lies in the fact that along with namin