Working on the assumption that proper names and appellative nouns form prototypical categories with fuzzy boundaries (Van Langendonck 2007; Van Langendonck and Van De Velde 2016), this paper addresses the question how proper names, which identify referents, become elements with other functions in complex English Name-Noun constructs. Qualitative data analysis shows that appellativization via metaphor or metonymy is an important determinant of the shift from name to noun. Additionally, considering the linking rule R in the composite structure, it seems reasonable to suggest that, firstly, the COMMEMORATIVE function (cf., e.g., Schlücker 2016) underlies CLASSIFY (cf. Jackendoff 2010) in non-descriptive specifications like diesel engine or HeLa cells, and, secondly, the shift to EPITHET (Breban 2017) can be motivated metonymically whenever associative meanings and complex descriptions enter into the picture (e.g., Kelly bag).
Proper names in English Noun-Name constructs / Cacchiani, Silvia. - (2019), pp. 515-525. (Intervento presentato al convegno XXVII AIA Conference tenutosi a Pisa nel 14-16 September 2017).
Proper names in English Noun-Name constructs
Cacchiani
2019
Abstract
Working on the assumption that proper names and appellative nouns form prototypical categories with fuzzy boundaries (Van Langendonck 2007; Van Langendonck and Van De Velde 2016), this paper addresses the question how proper names, which identify referents, become elements with other functions in complex English Name-Noun constructs. Qualitative data analysis shows that appellativization via metaphor or metonymy is an important determinant of the shift from name to noun. Additionally, considering the linking rule R in the composite structure, it seems reasonable to suggest that, firstly, the COMMEMORATIVE function (cf., e.g., Schlücker 2016) underlies CLASSIFY (cf. Jackendoff 2010) in non-descriptive specifications like diesel engine or HeLa cells, and, secondly, the shift to EPITHET (Breban 2017) can be motivated metonymically whenever associative meanings and complex descriptions enter into the picture (e.g., Kelly bag).
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