The precedent toponymicon of the Crimea (based on a sociolinguistic research).

Abstract

In the given article the Crimean topo-areal is described as a system of verbalized cultural symbols that actualize cultural and historical associative bonds in the recipient’s mind. This discussion is quite relevant in accordance with the anthropocentric paradigm of the modern linguistics. Whereas in order to define the precedence of the Crimean toponymicon, we have set up an innovative way of study – a free association experiment, open interviews and a sociolinguistic survey. The study had the aim to define the functional features of the Crimean placenames in the public mind and the possibility to highlight the precedent toponyms. The tasks included the following: selection and classification of the most relevant geographical names found on the Crimean Peninsula, that constitute a conceptually significant toponymicon; classification and ranking the precedent toponyms according to their level of recognition as universally precedent, country-precedent and socially-precedent (according to the results of sociolinguistic research). Sources for the given study included: Russian National Corpus, «Unabridged Dictionary of the Crimean Placenames», Linguo-Cultural Dictionary «Russian», questionaries of 87 respondents, as well as several works of fiction, publicism and folklore, информация, social media information, etc. We have compiled the database from various sources including 140 geographical names that had been mapped in various historical periods. Special emphasis has been given to 30 precedent toponyms identified in the result of the sociolinguistic research. All the names chosen are reflected in the mind of the most recipients and are connected to some significant phenomena/ events/ personalities that confirm the fact that they represent linguocultural phenomena.