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In this paper, I question the idea that proper names are merely used to refer to things or individuals. However, I am not going to use predicativism to prove this point. I will somehow look at things from the point of view of scholars like Frege or Kripke. I consider that this idea (that proper names are merely used to refer, at least when they are in argument positions) stems from a view of language that does not throw proper light on contextuality as discussed by Mey, Jacob. 2001. Pragmatics. Oxford: Wiley. From the very beginning, I argue that the issue can be seen in a better light through a theory of language use that considers language games as embedded in a society and a culture. I accept the idea that there are norms for introducing names in society and for using them in an appropriate way. Even if, for most philosophers, referring is the basic function of proper names, I propose that in a number of cases proper names are not essentially used to refer (although it is possible that the name allows a combination of referring and other functions). The referring function of names broadly correlates with the assertive function of the utterance in which the name occurs or with speech acts whose aim is to modify reality and, therefore, persuade, modify, create, promote, destroy, etc. objects or individuals (often referred to with proper names). However, there are other types of speech acts where proper names are not only used to refer, but, instead, to call someone (another case is scolding someone or a dog). Intentions clearly emerge in context. The same utterance may have more than one function, from the illocutionary point of view, but a proper name, as situated in different contexts, may have more than one perlocutionary function. I argue that while the speech act of referring is always a diagonal speech act, the speech act of calling someone (by the use of a proper name) is not a diagonal speech act but a self-sufficient, autonomous, primary speech act. Hence there is a clear difference between referring through an assertion and referring as part of calling, where referring is incorporated into the main speech act as part of the explicit illocutionary force of the speech act. In an assertion, referring is a prerequisite to providing a referent about which a property is asserted. Predication and reference are intertwined. In a speech act other than an assertion, there need not be a predicate, and referring and calling (or some other speech act) are connected. I propose that the learning of the speech act of calling by the use of a name requires certain syntactic considerations, that prima facie contradict Chomsky's binding theory. I then put forward the view that learning one's name requires, at some stage, knowledge of the semantics of de se structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the (im)permanence of objects and memory in Sappho and Alcaeus in the context of archaic Greek poetry and of their reception in antiquity. After a methodological introduction, the paper analyzes several texts by Alcaeus and Sappho, with special attention to the dynamics of proper names, family memories, and female kleos. The main texts analyzed are: Alcaeus fr. 140 Voigt; the unnoticed allusion to this fragment in Virgil, Aeneid 7.170–86; and Sappho fr. 98 Voigt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses the (im)permanence of objects and memory in Sappho and Alcaeus in the context of archaic Greek poetry and of their reception in antiquity. After a methodological introduction, the paper analyzes several texts by Alcaeus and Sappho, with special attention to the dynamics of proper names, family memories, and female kleos. The main texts analyzed are: Alcaeus fr. 140 Voigt; the unnoticed allusion to this fragment in Virgil, Aeneid 7.170–86; and Sappho fr. 98 Voigt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that difficulty in the retrieval of people's names is an early symptom of Alzheimer's Disease Dementia (ADD), but there is a controversy about the nature of this deficit. In this study, we analyzed whether the nature of the difficulty in retrieving proper names in ADD reflects pre-semantic, semantic, or post-semantic difficulties. To do so, 85 older adults, 35 with ADD and 50 cognitively healthy (CH), completed a task with famous faces involving: recognition, naming, semantic questions, and naming with phonological cues. The ADD group scored lower than the CH group in all tasks. Both groups showed a greater capacity for recognition than naming, but this difference was more pronounced in the ADD group. Additionally, the ADD group showed significantly fewer semantic errors than the CH group. Overall results suggest that the difficulties people with ADD have in naming reflect a degradation at semantic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers a description of the names used in four seasons (1-4) of the Polish TV series "Rancho." The analysis aims to show the mentality of the rural society that lives in Wilkowyje, its characteristics, and its views on political and social changes after Poland's accession to the European Union. Europe is not the only symbol of the West entering this community. It is also, above all, America, embodied by the film's protagonist, a Polish woman born in New York. For the local inhabitants, the ongoing changes are puzzling and sometimes painful, which they express vocally in their assessments of the West. Due to the specifics of the film language, proper names are studied in their contexts: in the dialogues between the characters and in the situations in which they find themselves. Occasionally, the interpretation of the onymes also requires a deeper look at the source (the film) from which they originated - as an audiovisual work (film editing, music, acting, visuals, colours, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction. In Finno-Ugric studies, there is a noticeable lack of research on literary onomastics, and the semantic functions of proper names within the structure of literary texts are insufficiently explored. The purpose of this article is to identify the types of onyms in the works of M. Slugina and to determine their functional and semantic features. Materials and Methods. The study material consisted of works by M. Slugina from the poetry collection “Tyust” (“Shades”). The research employed traditional linguistic methods: descriptive, functional-semantic, comparative-historical, as well as modern approaches to the study of literary texts – interpretative and gender-based. Results and Discussion. The types of onyms in M. Slugina's poetic texts have been identified, the core and periphery of the onomastic space in her works have been outlined, and a semantic analysis of onomastic vocabulary has been conducted. It is noted that the core of the onomastic space in M. Slugina's poetry consists of anthroponyms and toponyms (including oikonyms, choronyms, and hydronyms), while the periphery includes mythonyms, zoononyms, urbanonyms, dryonyms, theonyms, cosmonyms, hemeronyms, chrononyms, geortonyms, and religious-cultural toponyms. In the author's works, these serve text-forming, stylistic (informational-stylistic, emotional-stylistic), evaluative, aesthetic, symbolic, and conceptual functions. Conclusion. The results of this study can be useful for further research into poetic onomastics within Finno-Ugric linguistics.

The study introduces OnomOs, a new corpus of Czech texts with annotation of proper names. The corpus was compiled by onomasticians from the Department of Czech Language, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava, and made available by the Institute of the Czech National Corpus, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. The paper briefly discusses the content and structure of the corpus, the selection of texts for inclusion, and the onomastic-geographical classification of the identified names. The text consists chiefly of three preparatory analyses, which focus on the most frequent surnames, collocations found in Western and Eastern countries in the pre-1989 period, and the declension patterns of three types of onyms. In the summary, further possibilities of onomastic corpus research are presented.

Proper names are typically considered to be devices of individual reference. Since Frege (1882), the debate has mainly concerned the proper semantic characteristics of this individual reference. Burge (J Philos 70:425–439, 1973) challenged this focus by highlighting the predicative uses of proper names and proposed that names are predicates even if they appear as bare singulars in the argument position. In turn, this unificatory account was subjected to criticism by Böer, Jeshion, and others, who provided counterexamples to the predicativist analysis of proper names. In this paper, I want to analyze the nonreferential uses of proper names, which, by being nonreferential, provide a challenge for both predicativism and referentialism about proper names. I critically examine the processes proposed as possible accounts of the problematic examples, i.e. deferred reference, meaning transfer, and coercion, and argue that they do not provide an adequate analysis. I propose an interpretive mechanism that accounts for these problematic uses of proper names, as well as a new principle for classifying the kinds of uses of proper names based on the interpretive mechanisms underlying those uses and which includes all of the kinds of uses discussed in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper names and naming are an integral component of dramatic texts. However, to date, scant and fragmented scholarly attention has been given to the connection between proper names and key dramatic elements -- namely, stage directions, characterization, and plot progression. This paper adopts corpus linguistics as a method to show how a corpus linguistic approach to onomastics in drama can, on the one hand, provide analysts with a scoping overview of names and naming in plays, and, on the other hand, offer a richer insight into core dramatic elements. Using as a case study Edward Childs Carpenter's play The Cinderella-Man (1915), it argues that corpus analysis and visualization techniques such as keyword analysis, frequency analysis, concordance analysis, collocation analysis, and dispersion plot analysis can enrich the study of names and naming in drama. The paper contributes to and extends recent research that has called for the incorporation of corpus linguistic approaches in onomastics research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze family names in Jordan and the USA from a sociolinguistic perspective. The examination is based on a sample of 1000 family names: 500 Jordanian family names (JFN) and 500 American family names (AFN). As for Jordan, the sample was randomly selected from Al-Rawabdeh's (2010) Lexicon of Jordanian Clans, while in the case of the USA, the sample was randomly drawn from the list published at https://gist.github.com of the 1000 most common family names in the USA. The study's findings show that (41.6 %) of family names in Jordan and (54.4 %) in the USA do not reflect any aspect of human life. However, (58.4%) of family names in Jordan and (45.6%) of family names in the USA are found to reflect various aspects of human life. These aspects are reflected in nine categories: social traits, animals, occupations and professions, physical features, plants, geographical areas, natural and timing phenomena, tools and instruments, and financial conditions. The overall findings of this study reveal that although family names in Jordan and the USA are different, they generally tend to reflect the social-cultural and natural contexts in which these names have emerged and maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the inflections of Latin proper names in the Old English translation of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica. Whereas most common Latin loans are integrated into the Old English system as far as inflections are concerned, proper names, like scientific loans, can retain Latin inflections in some contexts. The analysis of the more than 700 tokens in this text reveals that the prototypical paradigm of Latin proper names results from a mixture of Latin and Old English patterns. The choice of inflections seems to be chiefly conditioned by grammatical case. While the nominative and accusative are modeled after Latin with very few exceptions, the dative and genitive are influenced by Old English paradigms as well. Both Latin and Old English inflections are evenly distributed in the dative. However, marking on names seems to be secondary and determined primarily by additional morphosyntactic means such as determiners or prepositions. As for the genitive, the predominant inflection, thematic vowel plus -s, results from the fusion of the inflections in both languages grounded in phonetic or spelling similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work is devoted to the syntax of specificational constructions with proper names within a typological perspective. The provided typology is based on the results obtained from the analysis of grammar descriptions and available corpus data for 94 languages. The paper discusses the morphosyntactic means that languages use to express specification, namely juxtaposition, attribution, and other less common strategies. It is shown that juxtapositional and attributive strategies are in competition in many of the sampled languages, so that certain expressions (for example, specificational constructions with the common noun 'city') prefer attributive-like coding, while others (especially constructions including personal names) show a clear tendency for juxtapositional coding cross-linguistically. Evidence from languages using an attributive strategy in specificational constructions shows that the common noun is generally the syntactic head of the construction. This conclusion contributes to the wide-scale discussion of the semantic grounds for headedness in specificational constructions. In addition, the paper shows that languages tend to place common nouns before personal proper names regardless of the word order used in specificational constructions with toponyms. This, as predicted, is correlated with the relative ordering of the head noun and its genitival dependent. The results of the present study also show that the constituent ordering in constructions with personal names implicationally depends on the order in constructions with toponyms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are broad disagreements between existing models regarding the mental representations and processes involved in the "DEGREE ADVERB + PROPER NAME" construction, including divergences regarding the semantics of the degree device, the category status of the proper name, the construction's expressed meaning, its compositionality, and, crucially, the operation holding between the degree device and the proper name. Our corpus-based investigation of two competing models from Construction Grammar and Formal Semantics shows that while both make useful contributions to the scientific understanding of the construction, neither is empirically adequate. Most importantly, we find that the construction participates in several non-predicted expressed meanings; multivariate analyses show that the three meanings amenable to statistical analysis cluster with different semantic usage-features. We argue that the best way to account for the construction's semantics/pragmatics is via a previously-dismissed cognitive mechanism: an enrichment/strengthening-type operation whereby a pragmatically-supplied scale is added to the message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A main selling point of predicativism is that, in addition to accounting for predicative uses of proper names, it can successfully account for their referential uses while treating them as predicates, thus providing a uniform semantics for proper names. The strategy is to postulate an unpronounced determiner that is realised with names when they appear to function as singular terms, making them effectively a concealed determiner phrase. I argue against the thesis that names are really predicates in referential uses. I discuss four different environments where names do not behave like the determiner phrases that are thought to embed them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults have even greater difficulty learning name–face associations than young adults, although many variables reflecting properties of the names have been shown to affect young and older adults' name learning similarly. Older adults' name–face association learning was compared for names with high‐frequency (HF) first syllables versus names with low‐frequency (LF) first syllables. Twenty‐eight adults ages 65 to 80 learned five names with HF first syllables and five names with LF first syllables in association with 10 new faces over repeated testing rounds with feedback. Participants learned more name–face associations when the names had HF first syllables than LF first syllables. Findings indicate that older adults benefit from increased frequency of phonological segments within a word on a task other than word retrieval and are consistent with a theoretical framework that accounts for learning new name–face associations, the effects of linguistic properties of the names, and ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review some of the most prominent challenges in the semantics and pragmatics of fictional names and propose a pragmatic theory of fictional names whereby understanding a fictional name requires imagining possible contexts of interpretation of the name. Similarly to other pragmatic approaches to fiction and fictional contexts, we maintain that fictional texts require that the interpreter engages in a game of pretense of sort and are, therefore, prescriptions to imagine a state of affairs that is not the real one. In contrast to these approaches, however, we propose that interpreting a fictional text does not require imagining a set of possible state of affairs where the text would be true but, rather, requires imagining a set of possible contexts where the text would be meaningful. In order to apply this framework to fictional names, we adopt a contextual theory of proper names, which we have proposed and defended in previous work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Статья посвящена сравнительно-сопоставительному анализу лексико-семантических особенностей имен существительных в башкирском и киргизском языках. Исследование проводилось в основном на материале научно-учебных изданий по грамматике обоих языков, а также справочников и словарей. В ходе сравнительного анализа лексико-семантических разрядов имен существительных башкирского и киргизского языков особых различий не было выявлено, за исключением специфики рассмотрения вспомогательных, или служебных имен. В башкирском языке вспомогательные имена рассматриваются внутри части речи «имя существительное», в киргизском языке же большинство исследователей придерживаются мнения по поводу отнесения служебных имен к отдельному виду служебных частей речи.

This paper examines the morphosyntax of proper names, with a focus on Italian. We argue that the morphosyntax of proper names is not uniform. Rather, we show that a crucial distinction lies between names denoting individuals and those denoting sets: while the former types of names undergo Merge in D, the latter do not. Our data moreover challenge the hypothesis that names can involve light nouns in their structure, as recently argued by Moltmann (2022) for German.

Proper names and naming are an integral component of dramatic texts. However, to date, scant and fragmented scholarly attention has been given to the connection between proper names and key dramatic elements—namely, stage directions, characterization, and plot progression. This paper adopts corpus linguistics as a method to show how a corpus linguistic approach to onomastics in drama can, on the one hand, provide analysts with a scoping overview of names and naming in plays, and, on the other hand, offer a richer insight into core dramatic elements. Using as a case study Edward Childs Carpenter’s play The Cinderella-Man (1915), it argues that corpus analysis and visualization techniques such as keyword analysis, frequency analysis, concordance analysis, collocation analysis, and dispersion plot analysis can enrich the study of names and naming in drama. The paper contributes to and extends recent research that has called for the incorporation of corpus linguistic approaches in onomastics research.

This article analyzes the importance of characters' names in Alejandro Zambra's 2011 novel FORMAS DE VOLVER A CASA. Although proper names in most fiction have some meaning, Zambra uses the names, lack of names, pseudonyms and nicknames of his characters, particularly the two narrators who double Zambra himself, to guide the reader toward the novel's subject: the ethical and aesthetic pitfalls of writing fiction, not testimony, about the evils of the Pinochet regime. Negotiating these pitfalls will help Zambra's avatars, and all Chileans, toward a social reconciliation that has yet to be complete. Zambra´s citing of Romain Gary in the novel´s epigraph affords a crucial link between the ethical and aesthetic implications here discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machery et al.’s 2004 x-phi project has been widely criticised for ambiguities contained in the expression ‘talk about’. Interestingly, although ‘about’ plays a prominent part in the debate, aboutness has not been a topic. This paper discusses this aspect. Alas, it must thereby add a further ambiguity to the list, the ambiguity between aboutness and reference, and thus also between subject matter and referent. It explains the distinction between intra-categorical aboutness which makes no ontological demands, and cross-categorical reference which requires the referent to exist. It then analyses the 4-fold embedding contained in Machery et al.’s study and shows how the aboutness-reference distinction bears on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the strategies of referring to persons in talks between different companies based on data of two dialogues taken from the ... (Bound volume. Women S speech. Men's speech (Workplace edition)). We have revealed that participants choose a basic model of referring, which can be binary (consists of referring forms for both sides of negotiations) or ordinary (has referring form for themselves only). Our data shows two binary and two ordinary basic models. In business communication participants refer to themselves and others as representatives of company. Referring forms depict a company as a place or inner space, and each representative as its part. When necessary, speakers refer to themselves or others as single persons by using verbs concerning an action of the person without changing the basic model of referring, or choose to use a different referring model with the singular meaning. The data also shows a higher occurrence of referring models to themselves and their side, compared to the other side. On the referring to the second and the third person (side) restrictions are imposed, which is clear from the fact of the absence or minimal presence of such referring models in the speech of some participants of negotiations. These restrictions are especially noticeable in the speech of the participant which is in a dependent position (i.e. receives an order). Referring to the second person and his (her) side is minimal and its emergence depends on syntactic or pragmatic factors. Proper names in referring to the second person individualize a business communication and emphasize an attention to him (her) and his (her) company. A speaker doesn't necessarily avoid a referring to himself (herself), with it he (she) emphasizes an active position in his (her) company. Depending on the evaluation of the power balance, speaker can situate other persons and com-panies closer to or farther from his (her) company (i.e. closer to interlocutor). The former doesn't need honorific markers, unlike the latter. In this article we show the tendency to mitigate the agentivity of the person which is referred to, and the means of such mitigation in business communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article "Valor y al toro!: a cultural contrastive study of Spanish-German comics" analyzes the translation of comics and its importance in the dissemination and internationalization of this cultural genre. It focuses on the German translation of the comic Aius. El destino de Numancia and on a contrastive analysis of Spanish-German comics, using a Mortadelo y Filemón comic strip as an example. It highlights that both comics, aimed at young people, have different characteristics that influence translation. The translation of Spanish comics into German is mentioned, as well as changes in character names and plot, and the adaptation of idioms and onomatopoeias. The importance of images in comics and the relationship between Spain and Germany in the comic market are also emphasized. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Revista Signos is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Standard Yiddish, -s and -ən are used as default allomorphs for plural word formation. It is argued here that the choice is left to the phonology, with -s acting as a default within a default. This status is used to explain the exclusive use of -s in the pluralization of proper names, which are claimed to be formed with no sensitivity to the phonological form of the base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Статья посвящена описанию лингвокультурологического аспекта антропонимов в парадигме различных языковых культур. Цель статьи: сравнительно-сопоставительное освещение личных имен собственных в русском языке и языках народов Севера, Сибири и Дальнего Востока в их динамическом аспекте. Анализируется влияние культур на антропонимическую систему языка: формирование антропонимикона народов на основе традиционных верований и обычаев; проникновение грамматических особенностей русской антропонимии в именник северных народов. В ходе исследования также выявлены семантические способы образования антропонимов у северных народов, обусловленные культурно-историческими аспектами языка. Рассматриваются антропонимы, являющиеся важным средством отражения национальной культуры, которая находит выражение в структуре официальной формулы именования, в выборе вокативных и квалитативных форм, во всём антропонимиконе народа. В статье под термином «антропонимикон» понимается совокупность антропонимов, то есть имен собственных, личных имен, именослова, именника, онимов.

The dossier on biblical anthroponyms in secular contexts offers an in-depth exploration of how biblical names transcend their religious origins to become integral elements of various cultural and linguistic landscapes. Through an interdisciplinary approach encompassing onomastics, socio-pragmatics, and cultural studies, the reviewed articles collectively underscore the enduring relevance and adaptability of biblical names. The studies reveal that these names have been integrated into everyday language and cultural practices, reflecting broader sociopolitical and cultural shifts. In Cuba, the persistence and adaptation of names like José, Juan, Pedro, and Rafael highlight their significance in shaping cultural identities amidst historical changes. Similarly, in Algeria and Israel, the phonetic adaptations and symbolic meanings of biblical names illustrate the complex interplay between historical, cultural, and religious influences. The studies on Mexico and Ukraine further emphasize the role of these names as markers of cultural continuity and identity, transcending their original religious connotations. Despite the comprehensive insights provided, several limitations were identified across the reviewed articles. Geographically, many studies focus on specific regions, limiting the generalizability of their findings. Temporally, the narrow scope of some studies based on specific periods may not capture long-term trends. There is a notable gender imbalance with a greater focus on male names, potentially overlooking gender-specific trends. An over-reliance on specific theoretical frameworks and secondary data sources may introduce biases, limiting the consideration of other perspectives. To address these gaps, future research should expand geographic and temporal scopes, ensuring a more comprehensive understanding of naming practices. Diversifying theoretical frameworks and incorporating comparative studies with other cultural contexts will offer broader insights. Detailed phonetic and pragmatic analyses, along with the use of visual aids, will enhance accessibility and richness of findings. Lastly, discussing the broader implications of these findings for other languages and cultural contexts will enhance the relevance and impact of the research. This comprehensive approach will enrich the field of onomastics and contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamic interplay between religious heritage and secular adaptation of biblical names.

This paper presents a study of the Biblical names in regional and historical aspects. Throughout history the Bible has served as the most important religious book for many people. As a result, the Bible has had a significant impact on various aspects of culture, education, and traditions. Ukraine has been characterized by the use of the Biblical names since the adoption of Christianity which influenced on the whole history of the state. Since Biblical personal names are both the lexical units and the symbols, it is interesting to see the presence of these names in different regions and epochs. The present study aims at pointing out at regional aspects of Biblical personal names. The paper provides a brief overview of naming trends in the assignment of Biblical names and Christian names in Ukraine. Our database of all names was fed the names of 2,000 people. The material is taken from the list of students who studied at Odesa State Agrarian University from 2014-2024 with the help of a continuous sampling method. The methodology, both statistical and qualitative, had two phases: a) comparison of the ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names, and b) classification of discovered Biblical names. This research is just one aspect of a series of investigations whose goal is to describe the anthroponomical system of Odesa, Ukraine in diachronic and synchronic format. The findings suggest that personal names with Biblical origin continue to be widely used in Ukraine. We emphasize that the study of anthroponyms in different regions and epochs is a valuable tool for understanding the history and cultural traditions of Ukraine. Therefore, the importance of onomastics as an interdisciplinary science affecting History, Sociology, Theology, Literature, and regional studies in the research of the Biblical names in current and past Ukraine is shown. This study draws upon three theoretical frameworks: anthroponomastics (Felecan & Mihali, 2023; Piddubna, 2021, etc.), socio-onomastics (Ainiala, 2016; Beley, 2019, etc.), and the regional onomastics (Braychenko, 2019; Buga, 2013; Chuchka, 1970; Frai, 2021; Matsyuk, 2021; Sholia, 2018, etc.).

Nouns are a characteristic feature that distinguishes one culture from another. Onomatology in general –and toponymy in particular– denotes culture and is affected by specific morals, religions, and ways of thinking, typical of a society. Likewise, it also embodies a varied range of extralinguistic information. In Chinese culture, toponomy is used to display an aesthetic symbolism, as well as a wide variety of connotations that are absent from Hispanic culture. Moreover, if we account for the use of different calligraphy, the translation of Chinese place nouns into Spanish implies a real challenge, a task that becomes more difficult if we deal with translating more than six-hundred-year-old nouns. Translators not only face problems regarding translating from traditional Mandarin Chinese, but also the challenge of translating a text full of religious concepts with no translation equivalents in our mother tongue. In this article, we analyze the translation of place names in Journey to the West in the two translations available in Spanish. Utilizing a corpus containing the original text and the two complete translations into Spanish, we focus on analyzing the techniques used during the translation process, taking into consideration whether the translators were able to identify and keep the harmony and aesthetics –typical features of the Mandarin Chinese– in the Spanish language.

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So‐called Neo‐Russellians, such as Salmon, Braun, Crimmins, and Perry, hold that the semantic content of 'n is F' in a context c is the singular proposition ⟨o, P⟩, where o is the referent of the name n in c, and P is the property expressed by the predicate F in c. This is also known as the Neo‐Russellian theory. Using truth ascriptions with names designating propositions, such as 'Goldbach's conjecture', in this paper, I will argue that, together with highly plausible principles regarding a priori knowledge, the Neo‐Russellian theory leads to unacceptable consequences. I will call this 'the Goldbach puzzle'. Since the solution to the Goldbach puzzle cannot be to reject the discussed principles regarding a priori knowledge, the puzzle will undermine the Neo‐Russellian theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English is generally considered to lack grammaticalized evidential markers (Aikhenvald 2004. Evidentiality. Oxford: Oxford University Press). However, Mélac (2022. The grammaticalization of evidentiality in English. English Language and Linguistics 26(2). 331–359) argues that certain uses of seem and other English verbs have grammaticalized as evidentials. He also offers several other examples of what he calls “(semi-)grammaticalized” evidentials. In this article I provide evidence that English also has grammaticalized evidential strategies in the choice between the present and past tenses when either is possible in a particular context, as well as in the use of certain determiners with proper names referring to specific individuals. The relevant contexts involve representation of particular points of view relating broadly to information source through tense and determiner choices. This analysis supports the work of researchers such as Figueras-Bates and Kotwica (2020. Introduction: Evidentiality, epistemicity and mitigation in Spanish. Corpus Pragmatics 4. 1–9: 13), among others, that evidentiality is best seen as “a discursive-pragmatic phenomenon.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Official Language Law and the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations Regarding the Written Form and Use in the Latvian Language of Personal Names, and also Identification Thereof provides that personal names are written in accordance with the traditions and spelling rules of the Latvian language. Personal names in other languages are spelled according to their pronunciation in the original language. The Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the UN Court of Human Rights have recognized that Latvian laws restrict personal rights, however, the use of personal names affects public interests in their entirety, hence, a uniform system of writing and using personal names is necessary. Courts of all levels have emphasized that a specific restriction is recognized as socially necessary and the benefit that society gains by maintaining the current approach to the representation of personal names is greater than the restriction of personal rights. For years now, numerous citizens of Latvia, after marrying a foreigner or registering children born in a mixed family, have been fighting for the opportunity to write their name or surname in the original spelling on the main page of his Latvian passport. As British-Latvian double citizen says, "We speak Latvian in the family and we call our daughter Emīlija, however, on her birth certificate and in the English environment - at school, at doctor's, in public - she is and will remain Emily, her real name is Emily". However, the traditional system of proper names of other languages is not only a matter of complying with the principles of writing (orthography), - it affects the basic principles of the language policy as a whole. Currently, discussions about the spelling of personal names have resumed. Therefore, it is important to start analysing the choice, use and evaluation of personal names in the broader context of Latvian language attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When discussing proper names, the traditional focus has predominantly centered on their meaning, while the composition of these names has received less attention. Initially, we can identify two perspectives. Firstly, the materiality of a proper name aligns with that of other linguistic forms, all of which can ascend to or descend from the onomastic function through the services of antonomasia. However, in specific contexts, the material aspect of a name can assume unusual significance. This includes considerations of objects: the arrangement of phonemes and sounds, their articulation, and auditory reception; the arrangement of graphemes and visual traits across diverse mediums (such as fabrics, bark, painting canvases, or urban scaffolding), encompassing various stylistic, typographic, and calligraphic executions, influencing both execution and visual perception. Moreover, phenomena encompass the reinterpretation of such data into new graphic, auditory, and linguistic forms, characterized by novel configurations, resemantizations, transformations, and substitutions. This occurs through techniques like interpretatio nominis, anagrammatics, rebussistics, cryptography, and pseudonyms. Centuries-old traditions initially reignited interest in the materiality of names, predating the contexts where this phenomenon gained new relevance. These include the 20th-century advent of branding (names as trademarks) and the significance of chirographic signatures in the digital age. The resurgence of inked materiality within names appears to signal a necessity, even legally, for establishing new connections between text and the body, resembling a sort of biosemiotics of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The untranslatability of proper names is a defining criterion for some researchers (Manczak, Kleiber, etc.). This idea has been criticized in other works, especially in translation studies, where it is an evidence that proper names can be modified under certain circumstances. By modification, I mean translations in the strict sense, but also supplementation or explaining by means of a footnote. My corpus will be composed of 'post-colonial' novels, written in English and translated into French and Italian. I would emphasise the cultural role that proper names play in these novels, whether they are brand names that situate the characters or historical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper names are especially prone to retrieval failures and tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs)—a phenomenon wherein a person has a strong feeling of knowing a word but cannot retrieve it. Current research provides mixed evidence regarding whether related names facilitate or compete with target-name retrieval. We examined this question in two experiments using a novel paradigm where participants either read a prime name aloud (Experiment 1) or classified a written prime name as famous or non-famous (Experiment 2) prior to naming a celebrity picture. Successful retrievals decreased with increasing trial number (and was dependent on the number of previously presented similar famous people) in both experiments, revealing a form of accumulating interference between multiple famous names. However, trial number had no effect on TOTs, and within each trial famous prime names increased TOTs only in Experiment 2. These results can be explained within a framework that assumes competition for selection at the point of lexical retrieval, such that successful retrievals decrease after successive retrievals of proper names of depicted faces of semantically similar people. By contrast, the effects of written prime words only occur when prime names are sufficiently processed, and do not provide evidence for competition but may reflect improved retrieval relative to a "don't know" response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropsychological measures sensitive to decline in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease are needed. We previously demonstrated that higher amyloid-beta (Aβ) assessed by positron emission tomography in adults without cognitive impairment was associated with recall of fewer proper names in Logical Memory story recall. The current study investigated the association between proper names and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (Aβ 42/40 , phosphorylated tau 181 [pTau 181 ], neurofilament light) in 223 participants from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention. We assessed associations between biomarkers and delayed Logical Memory total score and proper names using binary logistic regressions. Sensitivity analyses used multinomial logistic regression and stratified biomarker groups. Lower Logical Memory total score and proper names scores from the most recent visit were associated with biomarker positivity. Relatedly, there was a 27% decreased risk of being classified Aβ 42/40 +/pTau 181 + for each additional proper name recalled. A linear mixed effects model found that longitudinal change in proper names recall was predicted by biomarker status. These results demonstrate a novel relationship between proper names and Alzheimer's disease-cerebrospinal fluid pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study introduces OnomOs, a new corpus of Czech texts with annotation of proper names. The corpus was compiled by onomasticians from the Department of Czech Language, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava, and made available by the Institute of the Czech National Corpus, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. The paper briefly discusses the content and structure of the cor- pus, the selection of texts for inclusion, and the onomastic-geographical classification of the iden- tified names. The text consists chiefly of three preparatory analyses, which focus on the most fre- quent surnames, collocations found in Western and Eastern countries in the pre-1989 period, and the declension patterns of three types of onyms. In the summary, further possibilities of onomastic corpus research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper is a conceptual supplement sui generis, the aim of which is to present a modified treatment of proper names and deproprial expressions in the Academic Dictionary of Contemporary Czech (ADCC). The focus of the study is both a reflection on the past and current lexicographical practice and a discussion of the key issues related to the treatment of the respective lexical subsystem in the dictionary. First, we summarize the basic facts concerning the lexicographic processing of proprial and deproprial lexical units in the field of explanatory lexicography. Second, we provide some more general information about the ADCC and, most importantly, about the macrostructure and microstructure of the dictionary in reference to the topic of the present study. We focus on the inclusion of proprial and deproprial entries in the ADCC and the specific treatment of proper names contained in phrasemes. Special attention is paid to the microstructure of proprial and deproprial entries, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper „Real and Imaginary names in the Romanian fantastic fairy tales. On names originating from plat appellation” proposes the exploration of the anthroponymy of the genre: on the one hand, from the perspective of the onomastic elements that belong to the extralinguistic reality, and on the other hand, from the perspective of the innovations proposed by popular creators regarding the denomination. As we know, literary name research is a complex undertaking in which the reasoning for the creator’s choice of names must be considered. Therefore, we must explore, examine, and treat the "real" names in fairy tales with the same care as the "imaginary" names, which are generally more enticing and attractive to both the reader/listener and the critic. In this paper, the "real" names are considered from a linguistic perspective, taking also into account their use in the textual source, while the types of "imaginary" name categories contained in the fairy-tale are illustrated in terms of denominator creativity. Our inquiry also discusses the names based on the plant appellation, attempting to show their significance in the fairy-tale structure.

This paper discusses the inflections of Latin proper names in the Old English translation of Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica. Whereas most common Latin loans are integrated into the Old English system as far as inflections are concerned, proper names, like scientific loans, can retain Latin inflections in some contexts. The analysis of the more than 700 tokens in this text reveals that the prototypical paradigm of Latin proper names results from a mixture of Latin and Old English patterns. The choice of inflections seems to be chiefly conditioned by grammatical case. While the nominative and accusative are modeled after Latin with very few exceptions, the dative and genitive are influenced by Old English paradigms as well. Both Latin and Old English inflections are evenly distributed in the dative. However, marking on names seems to be secondary and determined primarily by additional morphosyntactic means such as determiners or prepositions. As for the genitive, the predominant inflection, thematic vowel plus -s, results from the fusion of the inflections in both languages grounded in phonetic or spelling similarities.

Introduction. In Finno-Ugric studies, as well as in Komi linguistics, the language of fiction is insufficiently studied, including the functions of toponyms in prose. At the beginning of the XX century in Russia, the writer Kallistrat Falaleevich Zhakov was widely known. At the same time, he also studied Komi and Finno-Ugric linguistics. The onomastic material of the works by K. F. Zhakov has not yet attracted the attention of researchers of his works, although toponymic vocabulary plays a special role in the artistic picture of the writer’s world. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the books by K. F. Zhakov “To the North, in search of Pam Bur-Mort” and “Through the system of life”. When writing the article, traditional methods of linguistic research, used in the analysis of toponyms, were applied: descriptive, comparative-historical, semantic, etc. Results and Discussion. The research value of the works is based on the fact that the geographical names of K. F. Zhakov artistic and semantic meaning of the connection with the past and eternal, present and future spiritual space of the North. The geographical environment determines the entire structure and storylines of the books. The action in them directly depends on the spatial movements of the hero, and the toponyms form the core of travel. The works can be considered as a single autobiographical text. “To the North, in search of Pam Bur-Mort” and “Through the system of life” are the books of wanderings. The main rhythm of the story is created by geographical names. The article presents oikonyms, oronyms and hydronyms from two works of the writer. Conclusion. In the texts of two works of fiction by K. F. Zhakov analyzed in this paper, real toponyms perform two main functions: informative and artistic-symbolic.