Functional features of phytonyms in English linguoculture

The object of this study is phytonyms in British linguoculture. Phytonyms in this work mean all names of plants and their parts. When classifying phytonyms, the authors rely on a naive picture of the world and divide phytonyms into dendronyms (names of trees and bushes), floronyms (names of flowers) and herbonyms (names of herbs). The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the functioning of phytonyms. Since phytonyms cover a significant layer of vocabulary, the authors consider phytonyms in detail in a number of semantic areas – in anthroponyms and toponyms, heraldry, names of holidays, idioms. The purpose of this study is to consider the problem of using phytonymic vocabulary and the peculiarities of the existence of forms of its representation in the above-mentioned spheres of folk culture of the English-speaking community of Britain from the standpoint of everyday linguistics.  The work uses a comprehensive methodology based on the methods of history, cultural studies and linguistics, including a systematic approach, a semiotic approach and an anthropological approach. The novelty of the research is determined, first of all, by the consideration of phytonyms in a number of areas of British linguistic culture from the standpoint of everyday linguistics. It complements the linguistic picture of the world, the modeling of which is gaining popularity in modern language science. In linguistics of recent decades, there has been an obvious trend towards shifting the emphasis to everyday life and everyday human consciousness. Phytonyms have previously been widely studied, but within the framework of other linguistic paradigms. As a result of the study, the functional features of phytonyms in anthroponyms and toponyms, heraldry, holiday names, idioms were considered, which allowed us to draw the following conclusions. The main function of phytonyms is nominative, which is complemented and clarified by characterizing, symbolic, evaluative, cognitive and expressive. In anthroponyms and toponyms, phytonyms have a characterizing function; in heraldry, phytonyms, in addition to nominative, perform a symbolic function. In idioms and proverbs, phytonyms implement characterizing, evaluative functions, as well as cognitive ones related to the accumulation, preservation and transmission of information.

anthroponym, British linguoculture, heraldry, dendronym, Linguistics of everyday life, linguocultural studies, onomastics, toponym, phytonym, floronym