Northern “Mosaic”: Territorial Identity in Toponyms of Northern Cities in Ural Federal District

Abstract

This article explores the features of territorial identity as reflected in the urban toponyms of northern cities in the Ural Federal District. The aim of the study is to assess the current state of the urban onomastic corpus in terms of conveying local authenticity and to outline prospects for its development. The linguistic material consists of urbanonyms from Khanty-Mansiysk, Urai, Salekhard, and Novy Urengoy, which are introduced into academic discourse for the first time. The research employs onomasiological analysis (identifying nomination motives and nominative themes), classification, and linguistic-cultural commentary. Groups of toponyms are described that verbalize nominative themes related to the foundational concepts of territorial identity — TERRITORY and CULTURE. Among the names associated with the concept of TERRITORY, those reflecting regional natural-geographical and natural-historical features are identified. Within the toponyms linked to the concept of CULTURE, names associated with social history and socio-cultural realities are established. It is noted that the embodiment of the concept CULTURE extensively verbalizes geological and industrial themes of nomination, alongside a consistent trend towards nominative commemoration. Based on identified semantic gaps, an informational reserve for creating new urban toponyms is determined. The potential for utilizing underexplored themes in science, art, sports, and the spiritual culture of indigenous peoples of the North for urban onomastic nomination is highlighted.

Keywords

• urbanonyms
• toponyms
• territorial identity
• nomination motive
• concept of territory
• concept of culture
• linguistic cultural studies