Identifying the role of proper names in folk tales - Курсовая работа

Introduction Names of people are the most typically cited kind of proper names. They occupy a particular space: on the frontiers between language and the world, between word and thing, between diesis and signification. The definition of what counts as a proper name remains a question. Proper names, forming in language an extensive layer of lexicon, attract the attention of scientists for a long time. Originality of proper names has allowed allocating their studying in a separate science - onomastics. In onomastics a linguistic component dominates because each name is the word developing under laws of language as well as because names carry the information which is extracted by means of linguistic means. Our graduation paper is devoted to the study of linguistic peculiarities of proper names in folk tales. We are going to reveal various features and characteristics of proper names in English and Armenian folk tales. We will try to find out traditional ways of naming folk tale heroes and also those ways or methods which are not ordinary. In the work we are going to analyze both Armenian and English folk tales trying to find similarities and differences connected with traditions of giving names to folk tale characters. The aim of our graduation paper is to reveal the role of proper names in folk tales. According to the aim the following objectives are set: 1. to define what is a proper name 2. to introduce a branch of studies dealing with proper names in general. 3. to introduce the mysterious world of folk tales. 4. to speak of the importance of naming in folk tales 5. to analyze the proper names in English and Armenian folk tales. This work is valuable as the study may provide a deep understanding of the role of proper names in folk tales. It presents vivid and distinct theories suggested by various scholars. Our research consists of an introduction, 2 chapters, conclusion and bibliography. In the introduction the main background of the work its research focus, overall research aim and research objectives as well as the value of this work are provided. The first chapter presents the existing approaches to the study of proper names, tackles the proper names as specific unit of language and goes to the theory of onomastics. Chapter 2 focuses on the study of proper names in folklore, on the importance of naming in folk tales. The main, central role is devoted to the linguistic peculiarities of proper names in folk tales. Here we present folk tales of different nations like English, Russian, and Armenian. The main aim of this is to reveal and prove that certain peculiarities of naming folk tale characters are similar not only in the folklore of two nations but they are observable in other nations folklores as well. In the conclusion we are going to summarize our ideas trying to present what we have found out carrying the graduation paper. The list of references will prove the sources of materials illustrated in this work. Chapter 1. General characteristics of proper names 1.1 Defining Proper Names Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (1976) defined a proper name as ‘a noun that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English’. Second, it can be partly transported from the source language and partly translated. Thirdly, it can be replaced with more or less different names in the target language. Finally, it can be dispensed with altogether. In spite of the “translation rule”, there are no rules for the translation of proper names (Heikki Sarkka: It is also important to mention perception of such age group of readers as children. Psychologists are assured that folk tales play the major role in progress of childrens mentality. Through a folk tale the child understands such concepts, as kind and evil, light and dark, courage and femininity. Therefore while translating folk tales it is important to be guided by childrens perception of this literature, namely, to transfer the text, and especially proper names which the child remembers first of all so that the child has certain associations with this or that hero. Many names of heroes of folk tales are either speaking name, the sense of which the child should catch easily while reading, or are based on onomatopoeia, that also allows the child to associate easier heroes with any action, event or even a sign of an animal. Therefore the translator should pass a folk tale so that the child did not have any questions or misunderstandings of the text (Перевезенцевой Н.В. «Особенности перевода имен собственных на примере сказок»: 1.2 The Theory of Onomastics The science that studies names is called onomastics (Greek onomastikos from onoma name).