ANTHROPONYMY OF JACOB BOSSHARTʼS STORY “EIN FEIERTAG”

Abstract

The current stage of the development of linguistic research is characterized by a variety of theoretical and practical views on the object of study. The article highlights the problem of the structure and semantics of anthroponyms in the story “Ein Feiertag” by Jacob Bosshart. The Swiss writer relies on anthroponyms as linguistic and cultural-historical units formed according to the laws of the national and territorial language. A brief overview of the creative heritage of J. Bosshart confirmed the thesis regarding the mental assimilation of the author and the character in the short story. The ambivert type of the writer is revealed through the title of the work, content, lexical, stylistically colored, phraseological and (expressive) syntactic units, the contrast of characters, (internal) dialogues, synonyms, antonyms, repetitions, comparisons, epithets, metaphors, etc. The component features of anthroponyms, the frequency of their distribution in the text, genesis, original nomination, word formation, contexts of use are clarified. One-, two- and multicomponent personal names, male, female, childrenʼs and appellative names, male and female surnames are distinguished. Statistical data are offered, on the basis of which the author hypothetically builds models of his characters. The latter are classified as primary and secondary. The head character is a bearer of typical features of a villager, family man, husband, grandfather, fellow villager (Felix), the character is a bearer of the image of a twin, a younger brother who devoted his life to his elder brother and his family because of the First World War (Abraham). The secondary characters are bearers of atypical features of a village woman, a wife, a religious woman (a Christian), a grandmother (Susann) and a burgher (Löter), respectively. Secondary characters appear in the form of a child (a girl), a granddaughter, who is cared for by grandparents (Das Klärlein). The nature and synonymy of variants of the anthroponym Der Doktor are proved, and the source of its appearance is outlined. The semantics of variants of anthroponyms were identified and differentiated.