Original scientific paper

Linguistic definition of the proper noun

Alenka Šivic-Dular ; Filozofska fakulteta v Ljubljani

Abstract

The article analyzes scholarly views of the syntactic function of the two components,
N1 and N2, in noun phrases consisting of two nouns in the nominative
case (type N1 + N2) in grammars of Slavic languages (Slovene, Croatian, Czech,
Polish, and Russian); in particular, it scrutinizes the function of Nx in phrases in
which N1 is a common noun and N2 a proper noun (type reka Sava 'the river
Sava’). Proceeding from Smilauer’s (UT 161) definition that the meaning (i. e.,
the onomastic or functional meaning) of a proper noun is identical with the object
named (in size, extent, characteristics, etc.), it is argued that the function of the
common-name component N v optional in the (surface) syntactic structure (cf.
reka Sava and Sava), is to make the functional meaning of the proper-name component
N2 explicit classwise (cf. reka Krka ‘the river Krka’ vs. vas Krka The village
(of) Krka’). A common noun + proper noun phrase (such as, in Sin., reka
Sava) should thus be seen as the o n o m a s t i c m o d e l o f a p r o p e r
n o u n . It is the analysis of the syntactic relationship between N1 and N2 in the
onomastic model of the proper noun that offers insight into the process of
onymization: it sheds light on what the transition of common nouns (nomina
appellativa) to proper nouns (nomina propria) means from the linguistic point of
view. If semantically onymization is a noun’s transition from beinig a means of
designating a class to being a means of designating a particular and, conversely,
appellativization is a noun’s transition from being a means of designating a particular
to being a means of designating a class, then sytactically onymization is a
noun’s transition from its primary function (i. e., of a syntactic head H) to its
exclusively secondary function (i. e., of a modifier M), which can also be
expressed by the following formula of onymization:
common noun > proper noun = function H > function M.

Keywords

definition; syntactic definition; proper noun

Hrčak ID:

180291

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/180291

Publication date:

21.6.1999.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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