Wužiwanje swójskich mjenow w hornjoserbšćinje
The Use of Proper Names in Upper Sorbian

Summary/Abstract: The written and spoken use of proper names for groups of people, institutional names and product names in Upper Sorbian from the second half of the 20th to the beginning of the 21st Century is the central focus of this essay. It examines both names translated into Sorbian of German groups of people, institutions and products, as well as those of Sorbian groups of people, institutions and products. It was possible to establish variants and duplications of names, which occur in the form of shortened names, abbreviations or syntactic constructions (consisting of common nouns). Names of Sorbian institutions or associations frequently appear without the attributive adjective “serbski”. In spoken language it is possible to observe the strong influence of colloquial language on the names of German institutions, which is reflected in the use of words cited in German and hybrid compounds with a German term first and a German loan word (adapted phonetically and morphologically) as the second term. Variants and duplicates with playful or pejorative connotations are typical of spoken usage, some of which are restricted to individual usage. Many names are given a playful character through wordplay, by using expressions, which sound similar.

• Details
• Contents