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Title: Reflections on some Theoretical Problems in Scandiniavian Onomastics
Author(s): DALBERG, Vibeke
Journal: Onoma
Volume: 37    Date: 2002   
Pages: 7-19
DOI: 10.2143/ONO.37.0.519181

Abstract :
In Scandinavian onomastic research there have frequently been divergent opinions as to what should be considered to be the characteristic features of proper names and what the related methodological implications are, and as to which words are to be assigned to the category of proper names and which to that containing appellatives. There is one fundamental feature about which there would seem to be general agreement, however, namely that the proper name has an identifying and individualising function, whereas the appellative on the other hand is classifying arid descriptive. In the first part of the article there is a discussion of this opposition and the grammatical differences that arise from it.
Trademarks are one of the classes of words whose relationship to the word-class proper name has been the subject of discussion in Scandinavian onomastic research. Most name-scholars have considered these terms either to be proper names or at least to have been proper names at the time of their coining but to have later been subject to deproprialisation. in the second part of the article the author argues for a different point of view, namely that trademarks not only act like appellatives but that they were created as such. It is pointed out that trademarks have a number of specific features that are a result of their commercial origin and that these can resemble features that are specific to proper names.
In the final part of the article there is a discussion of some methodological implications in connection with the classification of proper names that are based on the nature of the individualities that are denoted by them.


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