APPELATIVIZATION OF ALLUSIVE ANTHROPONYMS AS A COGNITIVE PROCESS

Abstract

The article examines the cognitive mechanisms of conversion of allusive anthroponyms into common nouns. The aim of the study is to identify and describe such aspects of the appellativisation of anthroponyms as prototypical categorical features, models of feature transfer and their statistical analysis, contextual marking, and types of appellativisation depending on the profiled features and the degree of their generality. The subject of the study is the cognitive processes underlying the appellativisation of allusive anthroponyms. The material comprises English-language texts from novels by contemporary British writers: Hornby’s A Long Way Down, M. Haig’s The Midnight Library, F. Gregory’s The Eternal Princess, R. Wynn’s The Salt Path, and R. Rendell’s Portobello. The research methods employed include cognitive discourse analysis, contextual and componential analysis, as well as a quantitative method for counting linguistic units and the features they highlight, with the aim of identifying patterns in the process of appellativisation of allusive anthroponyms. The results of the study showed that the appellativisation of allusive anthroponyms in the text is situational in nature, involves the actualisation of attributive or differential features, or relates to a generalized situation. Means of marking the transition of anthroponyms into common nouns were identified. It has been established that the cognitive mechanisms of appellativisation are metaphor, metonymy, or cognitive generalization, resulting in the formation of a verbal symbol. The findings may be applied in the teaching of disciplines such as English stylistics, Practical English Language courses and the Fundamentals of literary text interpretation.