Onyms in the film titles of the USA in 1920

The article is dedicated to identifying the specifics of the functioning of proper names in the titles of films from the USA produced in 1920. The subject of the study includes structural, semantic, and functional features of proper names. The object of the study consists of English language onymic units. The material for the research is based on the list of films from American film companies in 1920, published on the electronic resource "List of American films of 1920." The research tasks are to identify the main types of bionyms and abionyms involved in creating film titles; to define and characterize the types of anthroponyms and toponyms; to reveal the structural and semantic features of male and female names, oikonyms, and godonyms; and to establish the specifics of the functioning of filmonyms involving onymic units. The authors examine in detail the reasons for the use of onymic units in film titles. Special attention is given to the functioning of familiar anthroponyms and toponyms for American film viewers, as well as precedent onymes in filmonyms. The theoretical basis of the research consists of the main provisions in the field of onomastics by A. V. Superanskaya and V. I. Suprun, which reveal the linguistic status of onymes and the criteria for their classification. The works of Yu. N. Podymova, V. E. Anisimov, and A. V. Zubareva were consulted to address the features of filmonyms. The study employs structural-semantic and functional analysis methods. For the first time, the material of the study consists of titles of US film productions from 1920; the novelty lies in revealing the specifics of the functioning and choice of proper names for creating filmonyms. The study found that film titles mainly feature onymes of American origin, as well as the use of the same names and structures, indicating the unstable nature of the process of forming filmonyms during that period. It was established that the most common names in filmonyms are familiar anthroponyms of that time such as Mary, Rose, Jimmy, Jack; and toponyms New York and Broadway. A dependence of the structural type of filmonyms on a certain type of onyme has been identified. It was determined that only anthroponyms are used in the form of word forms, while toponyms more often form phrases where they serve as definitions.

onym, filmonym, anthroponym, toponym, godonym, oikonym, reference function, attractive function, bionym, abionym