PRAGMATIC POTENTIAL OF OFFICIAL DOG NAMES (on the Material of English-Language Names of Deutscher Boxer Dogs)

Abstract

The article focuses on the study of the pragmatic potential of English-language official dog names (ODN). The article briefly examines the regulation of the ODNs in regional onomastic systems of the United States and Great Britain, the structure of the English language ODN on the material of the English names of the purebreds of the German boxer breed, and their cognitive base. The article highlights the tendencies of building English-speaking ODNs, discusses their main structural models. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the parameters of the collective cognitive space of the ODNs in question. Relying on the analysis of linguistic material, the author suggests that ODNs form a regional onomastic system within the English-speaking community of dog breeders and reflect certain features of social and ideological attitudes, traditions, tastes and preferences. The article concludes that the ODN is a kind of microtext that is communicative enough for the dog owner, as it has an emotional impact on the potential buyer, prompting him to acquire a puppy, which can be considered a pragmatic potential of the ODN. The author also considers the perlocutionary, emotional, modal-evaluative and tactical aspects of the pragmatic potential of cynonyms of this class. The author comes to the conclusion that it is possible to reveal the similarities between the ODN and the brand name, which manifests itself in uniqueness and regulation, artificiality, the inventory of associations and the content techniques used in the nomination. The article also deals with ODNs from the point of view of Abraham Maslow’s needs hierarchy, which allows the reader to make the first outline of a portrait of a potential buyer of a purebred dog in English-speaking countries.

Keywords

• onomastics
• zoonyms
• dog names
• cynonym
• pragmatic potential
• collective cognitive space
• brand name