Keywords
demonym
name theory
meaning of names
terminological proposal
Abstract
In this paper I reflect on whether ethnonyms and demonyms can appropriately be considered proper names at all from the semantic perspective, and if so, on what basis. I believe the answer is yes, perhaps unsurprisingly, but there are troublesome conceptual tensions to overcome in the relation between logic and linguistics. Nevertheless an understanding of the difficulties can be constructive, and in this case it lead to a proposal for a terminological innovation that has useful consequences.
References
Algeo, J. (1973). On Defining the Proper Name. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
Anderson, J. (2007). The Grammar of Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brendler, A., & Brendler, S. (Eds.). (2004). Namenarten und ihre Erforschung. Hamburg: BAAR.
Cieślikowa, A., Czopek-Kopciuch, B. (2006[2011]). The old and the new in onomastic studies: The Polish experience. Onoma, 41, 271–294.
Coates, R. (2005). A speculative psycholinguistic model of onymization. Quaderni internazionali di Rivista Italiana di Onomastica. 1: Naming the World: From Common Nouns to Proper Names, 3–13.
Coates, R. (2006a). Properhood. Language, 82(2), 356–382.
Coates, R. (2006b/2011). Some consequences and critiques of the pragmatic theory of properhood. Onoma, 41, 27–44.
Coates, R. (2007). A strictly Millian approach to the definition of the proper name. Mind and Language, 24(4), 433–444. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0017.2009.01369.x
Coates, R. (2014). We are surrounded by onymies: Relations among names, name-types, and terminological categories. In J. Tort Donada & M. Montagut (Eds.), Els noms en la vida quotidiana. Actes del XXIV Congrés Internacional de Ciències Onomàstiques (ICOS), secció 1 (pp. 6–13). Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.
Coates, R. (2019). The meaning of names: a defence of the pragmatic theory of properhood (TPTP) addressed to Van Langendonck, Anderson, Colman and McClure. Onoma, 52, 7–26. https://doi.org/10.34158/ONOMA.52/2017/1
Czopek-Kopciuch, B. (2004). Nick — nowa kategoria antroponimiczna? [Nick — a new anthroponymic category?]. In K. Michalewski (Ed.), Współczesne odmiany języka narodowego [Present Varieties of the National Language] (pp. 106–111). Łódź: Wydawnictwo UŁ.
Czopek-Kopciuch, B. (2019). Once more about the need to harmonize onomastic terminology. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, 37(1), 83–90. https://doi.org/10.17951/ff.2019.37.1.83-90
Górny, H. (2019). Polish anthroponomastic terminology — towards systematization and normalization. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska 37(1), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.17951/ff.2019.37.1.105-117
Hanks, P., Coates, R., & McClure, P. (Eds.). (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hazlett, A. (2010). The myth of factive verbs. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 80(3), 497–522.
Hough, C., & Izdebska, D. (Eds.). (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karttunen, L. (1971). Some observations on factivity. Papers in Linguistics, 4(1), 55–69.
Kiparsky, P., & Kiparsky, C. (1970). Fact. In M. Bierwisch & K.E. Heidolph (Eds.), Progress in Linguistics (pp. 143–173). The Hague: Mouton.
Koopman, A. (2016). Ethnonyms. In C. Hough & D. Izdebska (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (pp. 251–262). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mill, J.S. (1843). A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive. (Vols. 1–2. 1st ed.). London: John W. Parker.
Raátz, J. (2011). Nick as self-attributed name. Nouvelle Revue d’Onomastique, 53, 183–209.
Raj, K. (2016). Epistemic warrant for ethical beliefs in relation to living freely and patriarchal systems of oppression. Res Cogitans 7(1). https://doi.org/10.7710/2155-4838.1151
Rübekeil, L. (2004). Stammes- und Völkernamen. In A. Brendler & S. Brendler (Hrsg.), Namenarten und ihre Erforschung (pp. 743–772). Hamburg: BAAR.
Shaw, P. (1983). The Major Derivatives from Place-Names in English and German [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Tuite, K. (1995). The declension of ethnonyms in English. In J. Ahlers, L. Bilmes, J.S. Guenter, B.A. Kaiser & J. Namkunkg (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on Historical Issues in Sociolinguistics/Social Issues in Historical Linguistics (pp. 491–502). https://doi.org/10.3765/bls.v21i1.1420
Van Langendonck, W. (2007). Theory and Typology of Proper Names. Berlin–New York: Mouton de Gruyter.