Search

In the creative course of the literary works, naming becomes emphasized, the name system of certain writings or authors is often key to interpretation. This study examines the problems of literary naming and the translation of names in Nándor Gion's four-volume novel that can be placed in the genre of "band novels" as well. The novels relate in chronological order, through four seasons of a child band's adventures: the holiday novel Kárókatonák még nem jöttek vissza (1977) (Cormorants Have Not Come Back Yet), the Sortűz egy fekete bivalyért (1982) (Volley for a Black Buffalo) continues the plot in autumn, Az angyali vigasság (1985) (The Angelic Feast) in winter, when the children evoke the habits of the Christmas holiday circle, and they get involved in the adults' things by saying the angelic feast, and the Zongora a fehér kastélyból (2003) (Piano from the White Castle) closes the story in spring. Besides the identical sites, back and forth references, repetitive motives and passages, the four novels are combined together by the recurrent characters as well. The study classifies the name theme of the novels (personal names, animal names), examines the extra meanings they carry (e.g. they demonstrate variegated nationality of the country, indicate the change in the community's nationality combination), their portrayal and stylistics role, the process of naming becoming thematized in the texts (e.g. the development of certain nicknames). We can assign Gion's characters' names to eight categories: with full name (with a surname and first name), with surname and nickname, with surname and with a drop cap, figures named with surnames, names completed with an occupation name, names completed with a constant attribute, names completed with constant attribute and an interpretative attribute, and telling names. One of the most frequently and for the longest time used literary devices is the telling name that is selected by the author for his hero in depicting the person's physical or spiritual property by its meaning or word mood. The novel texts reflect the formation of certain names, the act of naming and name usage in diverse places. Apart from the identifying-nominating function and characterization of the characters, the telling names have a plot forming role as well. The study examines the translator procedures that helped the Serbian translator translate the names, in order to raise the same associations in the target language reader as in the original text reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of nicknames is an ongoing sociolinguistic process with an important historical factor. Our goal was to record existing nicknames preserved in memory of the current residents of Slovak nationality in Slovak villages such as Aradáč, Jánošík and Kovačica. In the paper, we indicate in short the years and circumstances under which the first Slovak colonists came to the above-mentioned villages, as well as the current number of residents. The results of our research can be summarized as follows: monomial nicknames are most frequent, although we also recorded a few binomial nicknames. Assigning of nicknames is often influenced by Central Slovak dialect spoken in all three villages, as well as by Serbian language as the region's official language. We also recorded nicknames formed on the basis of the elements of other languages. The majority of nicknames were derived from personal first and last names. About 5% residents of Slovak nationality in Aradáč (64 people), Jánošík (53 people) and Kovačica (241 people) have a nickname. In our previous two studies we dealt with nicknames of the residents of Slovak nationality in Kysáč and Slovak towns in the district of Báčsky Petrovec - the towns with a larger population and consequently larger number of nicknames, which allowed us to construct our own classification with more categories and their sub-variants. This time we employed Ološtiak's theory, who drew from the theoretical base of Patráš (1996: 48) and we classified the nicknames into the following categories: connotational (derived from personal first and last names), external (motivated by physical features or particularities of an individual), internal (motivated by the individual's psychological features and characteristics), allusive (motivated by visible similitude between the nickname's holder and a movie or story character, famous actor, singer, sportsman, etc.), situational (motivated by a significant event, penchants or inclinations of the holder). Connotational nicknames were motivated by direct relationship with a birth name (own or foreign), but more frequently with a surname (own or foreign). Situational nicknames are most common and allusive nicknames are least frequent. We also registered some unclear and ambiguous nicknames, which formation was hard to identify - what was the motivation for their occurrence. Other nicknames, by contrast, have more motivational possibilities. The living naming scheme is vibrant and based on individual characteristics of the nickname holders, most frequently features - psychological, physical, then occupation, but also a variety of other motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appearance of nicknames is a thriving sociolinguistic process with an important historical factor. Our goal was to record the nicknames found in the living memories of the current, ethnically-Slovak inhabitants of Bački Petrovac, Gložan and Kulpin. The results of our investigation can be summarized as follows: in Bački Petrovac we recorded 432 nicknames from 181 last names, in Gložan 299 nicknames were recorded from 101 lastnames, and in Kulpin 94 nicknames from 37 last names. Some families with many branches in these Slovak villages have up to 20 nicknames. Even though one-word nicknames are most frequent, we also recorded two-word and three-word nicknames. There are cases where one person has two nicknames and vice versa, in which one nickname sometimes refers to several people. The giving of nicknames is often influenced by both the Central Slovak dialect spoken in all three villages and Serbian, which is the region's official language. We also recorded nicknames given on the basis of first names from other langauges. The majority of nicknames were derived from personal first and last names (the total from all three villages: 358), the next largest group of nicknames were based on function, employment, or practice (total: 135), the next group were based on psychophysical characteristics and states (87), and so on. Nicknames in a way reflect the history of these villages and thus characterize the way of life of people living in certain times and localities with all their local and regional specifics. In Bačka, the census records a long and ongoing decline in the population of the Slovak speaking national minority. Therefore, we find that recording nicknames is part of preserving an important, non-material cultural and traditional heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of epithets in surnames is an ongoing sociolinguistic process. Our aim was to record all existing epithets, preserved by current inhabitants of Kysáč (Kisac). The results of our research can be summarized as follows: 165 recorded surnames contain 742 epithets in total, some family branches have many epithets; although monomial models are most frequent, binomial descriptive models also exist; in some cases a person has two epithets; some epithets refer to several persons; the relationship between the epithets and the person they refer to is, most commonly, positive, whereas in certain cases, the epithets occur because of animosity. The role of the epithet is not only to identify the person it refers to, but it is also an important psychological, sociolological and historical factor. Epithets are a nonmaterial - cultural and traditional heritage in some way reflecting the history of our towns describing the life of the people of the time and the place. The local community stabilizes its values, norms and knowledge handing them down from one generation to another. However, there is a continuous decline of population in our local community, because of the mortality of old people and moving-away of the young. Furthermore, it is supposed that in the future, global crisis of social communication will be created due to decreased direct communication. For these reasons, our aim was to capture and record the information about epithets, which are still preserved by the inhabitants of Kysáč (Kisac) and to keep them for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]