24.744, Review: Hist. Ling.; Lexicography; Sociolinguistics: Fahlbusch et al. (2012)

Sat Feb 9 23:14:29 UTC 2013

LINGUIST List: Vol-24-744. Sat Feb 09 2013. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 24.744, Review: Hist. Ling.; Lexicography; Sociolinguistics: Fahlbusch et al. (2012)

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Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:13:35
From: Sebastian Kürschner [sebastian.kuerschner at ger.phil.uni-erlangen.de]
Subject: Deutscher Familiennamenatlas

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EDITOR: Fabian  Fahlbusch
EDITOR: Rita  Heuser
EDITOR: Mirjam  Schmuck
TITLE: Deutscher Familiennamenatlas
SUBTITLE: Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2012

REVIEWER: Sebastian Kürschner, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

The primary data source is the digitalized phone book of Germany from 2005,
providing a database of individual family names connected with the place of
residence. The resulting maps use two mapping techniques: 1) Pie charts
illustrating relative frequencies per name type and region. 2) (Whenever clear
regional distributions are provided,) color-based marking of areas. All maps
are printed in color and easily accessible thanks to a clear legend presented
in the upper left corner of the map. The maps often present distinct regional
distributions of specific name types -- astonishing when we regard the great
personal mobility shaping the modern German society. The atlas therefore also
documents that the variation of family names is clearly related to geography
and must be interpreted with respect to regional and dialectal developments.

In the choice of phenomena and names mapped in the atlas, the authors use
frequency as a primary criterion. A list of 10,000 most frequent family names
and ca. 10,000 additional cases as the basis for a lexicon of family names
(Kohlheim/Kohlheim 2005) is referred to as a primary point of reference. In
addition to frequency, the authors also include maps of less common family
names which are, however, especially interesting from a morphological point of
view (e.g. Frisian names, name compounds, names including definite articles,
etc., p. XXV). In my view, the methodology is sound for providing an overview
of morphological variation in family names, capturing both the most common
types and an interesting collection of geographically restricted or infrequent
phenomena. As a result, the atlas will achieve its aim of becoming a primary
reference for linguistic research on family names and for disciplines using
such research as a reference or data source (e.g., geographical or folklore
studies).

The phenomena in question are usually well-explained and motivated in the
introductory sections of the individual commentaries, especially with respect
to their historical source. The division between a main map and certain side
maps per phenomenon are valuable for both giving quick general access to the
phenomenon and providing information on the complexity of the phenomena in
question when details are concerned. The basis of all maps is transparently
presented in the regular expressions used for browsing the database, and in
statistics for each query.

At some points, I missed an attempt to interpret the geographical variation
found in the maps. However, this is not the primary task of an atlas (which
may remain rather descriptive), but a task for future research that follows
from the rich, new documentation of family names published in this format.
Still, whenever possible, the authors provide information on related types in
neighboring countries (especially in West Germanic, i.e., adjoining Dutch and
Luxembourgish regions), and the commentary includes interpretations of the
geographical picture when this is possible due to existing research (or when
it is close at hand due to phenomena well-known from dialectal variation).

At many points, the atlas also shows its potential for revealing new areas of
research in onomastics. For example, Section II.5 deals with the productivity
of final -t in family names ending in -er or -el (Grüner vs. Grünert, Ruppel
vs. Ruppelt), showing that a regular and frequent ending emerges. This ending
might be interpreted as a suffix serving to mark the onymic status of family
names. Other examples of innovative ideas are chapters on compound formation
(Kochmeier, Hansmeier), the morphologization of phrasal structures, a
differentiated look at Latinate transpositions based on German family names,
etc.

To sum up, the atlas provides a valuable, well-structured and broad overview
of morphological phenomena in family names, based on an accurate analysis of a
suitable dataset and a careful review of relevant research. Both frequent and
infrequent regionally restricted phenomena are mapped, resulting in a
comprehensive overview of morphological processes. The atlas will be relevant
to research on the history of family names in general, and is a good starting
point for innovative research in German onomastics.

REFERENCES
Kohlheim, Rosa, and Volker Kohlheim (2005): Duden Familiennamen. Herkunft und
Bedeutung. 2nd edition. Mannheim: Duden.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Sebastian Kürschner is professor of variationist linguistics and language
contact at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. He studied German,
Scandinavian, and computational linguistics at the Universities of Freiburg
and Copenhagen. He received the doctoral degree from the University of
Freiburg in 2007, and held a postdoc position at the University of Groningen.
His research interests include language variation, language and dialect
contact, historical linguistics, and morphology.

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