30.118, Review: Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hough (2017)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-30-118. Wed Jan 09 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.118, Review: Historical Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Hough (2017)

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Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2019 14:37:03
From: Peter Backhaus [backhaup at gmail.com]
Subject: The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/29/29-207.html

EDITOR: Carole  Hough
TITLE: The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2017

REVIEWER: Peter Backhaus, Waseda University

SUMMARY

“The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming” (henceforth Handbook) is a 770 pages
volume edited by Carole Hough, Professor of Onomastics at the University
of Glasgow. It is divided into seven parts, each covering a different aspect
of onomastics. The Handbook opens with an introduction, in which Hough defines
the study of names in terms of being “both an old and a young discipline” (1),
explains the overall structure of the book, and briefly previews the
individual contributions (Chapter 1).

Part I contains three chapters dedicated to onomastic theory. It starts with
Willy van Langendonck and Mark van de Velde’s account of the semantic and
pragmatic characteristics of names (Chapter 2). Staffan Nyström discusses (and
refutes) the frequent claim that names do not have meaning but only reference
(Chapter 3). In the chapter on Names and Discourse, Elwys de Stefani explores
the pragmatic functioning of names in linguistic interaction and demonstrates
how this aspect of onomastics can be empirically studied (Chapter 4).

Part II is dedicated to the topic of toponomastics, or place-name research. It
opens with Simon Taylor’s overview of research methods, which also includes a
sample entry that illustrates how to read a toponymic dictionary (Chapter 5).
The following chapters lead us through the different types of toponyms and how
they came about: Carole Hough deals with settlement names (Chapter 6), Svante
Strandberg with river toponymics (Chapter 7), Peter Drummond with hill and
mountain names (Chapter 8), Peder Gammeltoft with island names (Chapter 9),
Julia Kuhn with names in rural settings (Chapter 10), and Bertie Neethling
with street names (Chapter 11). Part II concludes with Stefan Brink’s chapter
on the common practice of transferring place-names from one locality to
another, and the various mechanisms behind such toponymic recycling (Chapter
12). 

Part III covers the second main object of onomastic study, names of people.
Edwin D. Lawson makes the start with a survey on naming practices worldwide,
based on information from a cross-cultural sample of experts on the topic
(Chapter 13). The following two chapters focus on first and family names,
respectively. Katharina Leibring sketches the historical development of given
names in Europe (Chapter 14), while Patrick Hanks and Harry Parkin explore the
characteristics of surnames in the British Isles, complemented by a brief
review of available literature on surnames in other countries (Chapter 15).
Bynames, from medieval times (“John the carpenter”) to their present-day usage
(“The Iron Lady”), are the topic of Eva Brylla’s chapter (Chapter 16). It is
followed by Adrian Koopman’s overview of ethnonyms, or names for ethnic groups
such as Asian, Bavarian, or Zulu (Chapter 17). Ellen S. Bramwell outlines the
relevance of naming practices for the field of anthropology and calls for
further synergies between the two disciplines (Chapter 18). Finally, George
Redmonds demonstrates the usefulness of first and family names for the study
of genealogy (Chapter 19).  

Part IV deals with the relatively young study of names in literature.. After
introducing some of the basic concepts from the philosophy of language, Grant
W. Smith draws on Pierce’s three-tiered conception of the semiotic sign to
exemplify how names in literature can evoke iconic, indexical and symbolic
associations (Chapter 20). In a more hands-on article, Bertie Neethling
analyzes the functioning of names in the lyrics of two pop songs (Chapter 21).
Birgit Falck-Kjällquist gives an overview of the use of names in different
literary genres, including prose, drama, and poetry (Chapter 22). One of the
major methodological issues raised in her article is directly taken up in the
next chapter, which is about corpus-based approaches to the study of names in
literature. Karina van Dalen-Oskam describes the overall development of the
field, with special focus on pioneering research projects in Germany, Sweden,
and the Netherlands (Chapter 23). Part IV closes with Paul Cavill’s diachronic
overview of onomastic practices in English literature, from Beowulf to Dickens
(Chapter 24) 

Covering the topic of socio-onomastics, Part V starts with Terhi Ainiala’s
overview of the social meaning of person and place-names (Chapter 25). Emilia
Aldrin examines the relationship between names and identity, subdivided into
personal, social, and cultural identity (Chapter 26). Next, Guy Puzey
introduces the field of linguistic landscape, the study of language on signs,
and demonstrates its potential for onomastic research (Chapter 27). Largely
based on her PhD project in Australia, Laura Kostanski looks at the novel
concept of toponymic attachment, defined as “a positive or negative
association individuals and groups make with real or imagined toponyms” (412)
(Chapter 28). Irma Taavitsainen and Andreas H. Jucker deal with names as forms
of address. They identify different types and combinations of address terms in
English and show how their use has changed through the ages (Chapter 29). In
the next chapter, Katarzyna Aleksiejuk approaches the complex topic of
pseudonyms, their classification, and how they are used in language and
literature (Chapter 30). The final contribution to socio-onomastics is on
commercial names, explored by Paula Sjöblom with respect to both linguistic
form and function (Chapter 31).

PART VI is a collection of articles that explore the relationship of
onomastics with other disciplines. Richard Jones critically reflects on what
place-names can and cannot do in the study of archaeology (Chapter 32). From
the point of view of cognitive psychology, Serge Brédart discusses the problem
of why personal names tend to be particularly vulnerable to retrieval
difficulties (Chapter 33). The following three chapters are thematically
related in their focus on toponyms: Margaret Scott on names and dialectology
(Chapter 34), Peder Gammeltoft on names and geography (Chapter 35), and
Gillian Fellows-Jensen on names and history (Chapter 36). Toponyms are also in
the center of the contributions by Richard Coates, who looks at evolution and
change of names from the perspective of historical linguistics (Chapter 37),
and by Berit Sandnes, who shows the potential of place-names for studying
language contact phenomena (Chapter 38). Entirely different ground is covered
by Andreas Teutsch, who provides an illustrative overview on legal issues in
name-giving, with special focus on first and family names (Chapter 39). Alison
Grant emphasizes the (not yet entirely exhausted) potential of onomastic
research in dictionary making (Chapter 40), before Kay Muhr concludes Part VI
with a case study on religious place-names in Ireland (Chapter 41).

The final thematic section, Part VII, contains six contributions on “other
types of names” (603): aircraft names, by Guy Puzey (Chapter 42), animal
names, by Katharina Leibring (Chapter 43), astronomical names, by Marc
Alexander (Chapter 44), names of dwellings, by Adrian Koopman (Chapter 45),
locomotive and train names, by Richard Coates (Chapter 46), and ship names, by
Malcolm Jones (Chapter 47).

EVALUATION

The Handbook provides an expansive and most welcome introduction to the
science of names and name-giving. The overall structure of the book, from core
areas to more peripheral topics, is logical and easy to follow. Consecutive
numbering of the 46 chapters, a design feature common to all of the volumes in
the _Oxford Handbooks in Linguistics_ series, provides additional cohesion
between the chapters and allows for easy cross-referencing. 

With an approximate average length of 15 pages, most of the contributions
provide concise and easily accessible introductions to the topics covered.
Many of the chapters have been written by well-known experts in the field, but
there are also contributions by younger researchers. As a matter of fact, some
chapters focus more on theoretical issues, while others are dedicated to
hands-on empirical research, including research methods. Taken together, this
strikes a very good balance between research theory and practice.

There is some necessary thematic overlap, particularly in Part VI, where many
of the chapters relate to contents from other parts of the book. For instance,
Coates’ chapter on Names and Historical Linguistics deals with issues taken up
in the chapters on archaeology (Chapter 32), dialect (Chapter 34), and
cognitive psychology (Chapter 33), which, unfortunately, remains
unacknowledged in the text. In general, a little more cross-referencing would
have been in order, particularly given the fact that many people might not
read the Handbook from end to end. 

One strong point of the book is that it devotes so much space to the
comparatively novel fields of literary onomastics and socio-onomastics. In
addition, I enjoyed very much some of the later chapters on topics outside of
the onomastic core areas, for instance Bertie Neethling’s case study on names
in pop song lyrics, Brédart’s chapter on names and cognitive psychology
(Chapter 33), Teutsch’s overview on the legal aspects of naming (Chapter 39),
and Malcolm Jones’ survey of ship names (Chapter 47). 

Perhaps inevitably, the Handbook has a relatively pronounced geographical
focus on western and north-western European countries, with the British Isles
in central position. This is reflected by a larger number of articles that are
confined to research from Britain (e.g., Chapters 6, 19, 34, 36, 40, 46). On
the other hand, there are also chapters explicitly dealing with non-European
countries, including Neethling’s insightful study on street (re)naming
practices in South Africa (Chapter 11), and two quite impressive overviews of
personal naming systems worldwide (Chapters 13 and 15).

The references are summarized at the end of the book, amounting to an
impressive list of almost 100 pages. While there are some advantages to this
format, including saving space and having all references available “at one
look,” it might have been more reader-friendly to provide separate
bibliographies for each chapter. However, as this appears to be the standard
format for handbooks in this series, it is beyond the responsibility of the
editor.  

The Handbook has been carefully edited, with only a handful of minor typos. A
subject and a language index make it easily accessible also for the quick
reader (though I would definitely recommend allowing for some time when
picking it up). 

The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming is likely to become one of the
standard works of reference and, in fact, a must-have for everyone interested
in the science of names and naming. It works both as a tool for individual
researchers and as additional reading material in classes on onomastics and
related fields.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Peter Backhaus is Professor at the Department of English Language and
Literature, Waseda University, Tokyo. His main research interests are
sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and writing and orthography. He is recently
preparing a project on the use of names in contemporary American literature.





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