Original scientific paper

Surname as a Reflection of Multiple Roles

Barbara Vodanović orcid.org/0000-0002-8274-549X ; University of Zadar, Department of French and Francophone Studies, Zadar, Croatia

Abstract

This paper tries to show the connection between the way surnames are formed in Croatian and French and the extra-linguistic context in which they are created. The surname will be discussed through the prism of the three roles that a surname assumes,i.e. social, discursive and linguistic. Therefore, we will deal with the name formula in its beginnings, taking examples from historical sources to illustrate how a particular discursive context in which a person needs to be identified, e.g. the role of a person in a legal document or an orphanage book, influences the method of giving a name. We will also provide a historical framework of the reasons for extending the name formula to adjectives that are transformed into surnames during the development of the formula and the role of linguistic elements in the identification system. It will also be shown that the language, French or Croatian, chooses the creative model following its inherent linguistic properties and in accordance with the discursive features and needs of the text. It will be seen that the morphological and syntactic features of the name formula and the surname itself reflect the extralinguistic reality. These features are not exclusively onomastic but also general linguistic features.

Keywords

anthroponymy; Croatian; French; identity; noun formula; surname; role

Hrčak ID:

266300

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/266300

Publication date:

7.12.2021.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 1.617 *