2023, Volume 20, Issue 3
Elena V. Arutyunova On the Problem of Separate and Hyphenated Spelling of Russian Toponyms with Postpositive Adjective
Voprosy onomastiki, 2023, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp. 200–221 (in Russian) Received on 9 January 2023 Abstract: The paper explores the problem of separate and hyphenated spelling of place names with a postnominal adjective such as Strugi(-)Krasnye. It provides a general review of the spelling rules for place names that include adjectives and covers various structural and semantic types of toponyms with postpositive adjectives. Using examples retrieved from dictionaries and legal documents (State Index of Place Names, etc.) the author identifies the preferred spelling variants for each type of toponym, as well as possible spelling motivations, investigates the orthographic history and officially approved spellings of toponyms including the settlement name Strugi Krasnye and the Strugo-Krasnensky district. It has been established that the codification of place names with a postpositive adjective is not fully aligned with the current rule on their hyphenated spelling, which poses the problem of choosing the right spelling policy to use in such cases. The two main factors that influence this choice are: the generally accepted separate spelling of structures with a postpositive inflected adjective, on the one hand, and the tendency to hyphenize the components of the name to create a compound, on the other. The positive and negative sides of both choices are considered. The conclusion is that the hyphenated spelling of the “noun + adjective” pattern is more convenient as it allows us to rely on formal features without looking into the history of the name formation: to apply this rule correctly it only takes to determine if the second component is an adjective by form (although by origin it can be, in fact, a standalone name, i.e. a substantivized adjective). At the same time, changing the rule will create a problem of orthographical differentiation between such names as Ilyinskoye-Khovanskoye and Ilyinskoye Kesemskoye. Keywords: spelling of toponyms; normalization of toponyms; spelling rules; codification; separate writing; hyphenated spelling; postpositive adjective; State catalog of geographical names References Arutyunova, E. V., Beshenkova, E. V., & Ivanova, O. E. (2020). Propisnye i strochnye bukvy v geograficheskikh i administrativno-territorial'nykh nazvaniiakh: akademicheskie pravila russkoi orfografii [Capital and Lowercase Letters in the Official Toponymy of Russia]. Voprosy onomastiki, 17(2), 256–277. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2020.17.2.027 Arutyunova, E. V., Beshenkova, E. V., & Ivanova, O. E. (2021). Lingvisticheskie osnovy sovremennogo napisaniia toponimov (k teorii orfograficheskogo pravila) [Linguistic Foundations of Modern Spelling of Toponyms (on the Theory of Spelling Rules)]. Izvestiia RAN. Ser. literatury i iazyka, 80(1), 21–41. Arutyunova, E. V., Beshenkova, E. V., & Ivanova, O. E. (2022). Propisnye i strochnye bukvy v sobstvennykh imenakh liudei, prozvishchakh, psevdonimakh, klichkakh: iz akademicheskikh pravil russkoi orfografii [Uppercase and Lowercase Letters in Proper Names, Pseudonyms, Nicknames: Academic Rules of Russian Spelling]. Voprosy onomastiki, 19(2), 208–229. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2022.19.2.024 Beshenkova, E. V., & Ivanova, O. E. (2016). Teoriia i praktika normirovaniia russkogo pis’ma [Theory and Practice of Standardization of Russian Writing]. Moscow: LEKSRUS. Beshenkova, E. V., & Ivanova, O. E. (2019). K tipologii orfograficheskikh pravil: istoriia formirovaniia i status pravila o napisanii slova na -insk(ii), -ensk(ii) [On the Typology of Spelling Rules: History of Formation and Status of the Rule on Spelling Words in -insk(i), -ensk(i)]. Russkii iazyk v nauchnom osveshchenii, 2, 25–42. Dambuev, I. A. (2021). Kamen ka Pervaia ili Kamenka-Pervaia? Variativnost’ i kodifikatsiia v toponimii [Kamenka Pervaia or Kamenka-Pervaia? Variability and Codification in Toponymy]. Trudy Instituta russkogo iazyka im. V. V. Vinogradova, 3 (29), 81–91. Petrov, G. V. (1988). Strugi-Krasnye [Strugi-Krasnye]. Leningrad: Lenizdat. Sidorova, E. G. (2021). Slitno-defisnye napisaniia toponimicheskikh edinits [Separate and Hyphenated Spelling of Toponyms]. In S. I. Bogdanov et al. (Eds.), Iazyk, obshchestvo, chelovek: materialy VII Mezhdunarodnogo pedagogicheskogo foruma [Language, Society, People: Proceedings of the 7th International Pedagogical Forum] (pp. 174–182). St Petersburg: Izd-vo RGPU im. A. I. Gertsena. |
![]() |