2025, Volume 22, Issue 2
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Elizaveta Olegovna Borisova INDIVIDUAL NICKNAMES IN KOSTROMA DIALECTS: A GENERAL MOTIVATIONAL OVERVIEW
For citation Received on 13 January 2025 Abstract: Individual nicknames, as a distinct class of onyms, serve not only a nominative function but also a descriptive one. This article explores the motivational principles underlying the attribution of such nicknames, based on data collected by the Ural University Toponymic Expedition in the Kostroma region. Many of the nicknames presented here are introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time. The proposed motivational classification draws on contextual information recorded during fieldwork — specifically, informants’ explanations regarding the origins of each nickname. Since formally identical nicknames may arise from different motivations (cf. Kot “Vasya Kot — many cats are called Vas’kas, so he’s aVasya Kot, too” vs. Kot “We had a cat — he had whiskers like a cat”), this context captures the workings of naive linguistic consciousness in the interpretation of onymic motivation. The study identifies eleven key motivational categories relevant to nickname formation: family ties, place of residence or origin, biographical facts, occupation, appearance, physical disabilities, character and behaviour, intellectual abilities, habits and pastimes, speech, and financial status. The most productive categories include nicknames derived from personal names or kinship terms, as well as those referencing physical appearance. Nicknames based on distinctive speech patterns are also relatively common. A large, though heterogeneous, group includes nicknames that reflect societal behavior or attitudes towards others, life, and material possessions. Keywords: Russian dialects; regional anthroponymy; individual nicknames; motivational typology; field linguistics; Kostroma region Acknowledgements The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant number 23-18-00439 Onomasticon and Linguocultural History of European Russia, https://rscf.ru/en/project/23-18-00439/). References Berezovich, E. L. (1998). Toponimiia Russkogo Severa: Etnolingvisticheskie issledovaniia [Toponymy of the Russian North: Ethnolinguistic Studies]. Ekaterinburg: Ural University Press. Borisova, E. O. (2024). K izucheniiu individual’nykh prozvishch s situativnoi motivirovkoi v russkikh narodnykh govorakh [Towards the Study of Individually Motivated Nicknames in Russian Folk Dialects]. Voprosy onomastiki, 21(3), 156–177. https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2024.21.3.036 Boronina, O. V. (1980). K voprosu ob otfamil’nykh prozvishchakh [On the Question of Surnominal Nicknames]. In A. K. 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