Motivational Specificity of Nicknames Interpreting Speech Characteristics and Communication Behavior: A Study of Northern Russian Dialects

This article explores the individual nicknames from Northern Russian dialects that are motivated by distinctive speech characteristics and communication behaviors. The materials were drawn from the anthroponymic database of the Toponymic Expedition of Ural Federal University. Approximately 300 instances of individual nicknames were analyzed, with a significant portion being introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time. A classification of nicknames based on nomination motives is proposed, developed from accompanying motivational contexts that capture informants' narratives about the origins of specific nicknames. It is emphasized that this classification is fundamentally probabilistic in nature and reflects the linguistic awareness of naïve linguistic consciousness. The author concludes that the nicknames reveal both physical aspects of speech (such as speed, pitch, and timbre) and content-related features (including frequently used words and adherence to literary norms). The most prominent categories include “Frequency of Word Usage,” “Speech Defects,” and “Communication Behavior and Style.” It has been established that the primary model for nickname formation is the fixation of an exemplar word within their internal structure, which imitates the individual's speech characteristics.

internal form, individual nicknames, figurative nomination, speech behavior, Northern Russian dialects