Semantic and functional peculiarities of anthroponyms in the detective story "Murder on the Orient Express" by A. Christie

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Poltava State Agrarian University

Karyna Tiurina, 4th year Student at the Faculty of Accounting and Finance

У статті розкрито проблему антропоніміки як у мовознавстві в цілому, так і у літературознавстві зокрема. Проаналізовано лінгвістичні дослідження як вітчизняних, так і зарубіжних вчених, у працях яких представлені не лише семантичні особливості власних імен, а також специфіка ономастичного фрагменту дійсності. Згадуються основні етапи розвитку антропонімів в історії англійського народу. Розглянуто різні підходи вчених до класифікації власних назв, зокрема опрацьовано наукові роботи А. Вежбицької, на основі яких розкрито поняття маркованості щодо особистих імен. Проаналізовано універсальну класифікацію О. В. Суперанської в контексті детективного роману «Вбивство у «Східному експресі», яка базується на особливостях походження антропонімів, зважаючи на простір, в якому вони переважно вживаються, та робить акцент на експресивно-оцінній функції власних імен. Розглянуто поняття «поетична ономастика» та «поетонім». Запропоновано власний термін для номінації літературних імен, що дозволяє включити їх до окремого сектору в загальній системі поетичної ономастики. На прикладі аналізу детективного роману «Вбивство у «Східному експресі» визначено особливу роль антропонімів та фразеологізмів у творах художньої літератури. Схарактеризовано основні функції власних імен у детективному романі, значимість яких підкріплюється прикладами з зазначеного твору А. Крісті. Особливу увагу приділено класифікації фразеологічних одиниць з антропонімічним елементом в англійській мові, фундаментом якої є етимологічна специфіка власних назв. Проведено детальний аналіз літературних імен у складі ідіоматичних виразів у романі А. Крісті «Вбивство у «Східному експресі», на базі якого представлено власну класифікацію фразеологізмів з компонентом-антропонімом. Аналіз антропо-фразеологічного аспекту роману дає підстави для визначення антропоніма як ключового елемента в створенні художнього образу, який є основним провідником читача у світ загадкової реальності твору.

Ключові слова: антропоніміка, детективний роман, реальні антропоніми, міфологічні антропоніми, фігуративні імена, фразеологічна одиниця.

The article reveals the problem of anthroponymics both in linguistics in general and in literary studies in particular. The linguistic researches of both domestic and foreign scientists were studied. In their works, not only the semantic peculiarities ofpeople's names are presented, but also the specifics of the onomastic fragment of reality. The main stages of the development of anthroponyms in the history of the English people are mentioned. The approaches of different scientists to the classification of personal names are considered. In particular, the scientific works of A. Vezhbytska are explored, on the basis of which the concept of “markedness” in the scope ofpeople's names is revealed. The universal classification of O. V. Superanska in the context of the detective story “Murder on the Orient Express” were analyzed. The classification is based on the peculiarities of the origin of anthroponyms, takes into consideration the space in which they are primarily used and focuses on the expressive and evaluative function of personal names. The concepts of “poetic onomastics” and “poetonym” are considered. In the article, we provide the specific term for the nomination of literary names, which allows them to be included in a separate sector in the general system of poetic onomastics. The significant role of anthroponyms and idioms in fiction is determined conducting the analysis of the detective story “Murder on the Orient Express”. The main functions of characters' names in the detective story are characterized, the significance of which is proved by the examples from the previously mentioned novel by A. Christie. Big attention is paid to the classification of English phraseological units with an anthroponymic element, the basis of which is the etymological specificity ofpersonal names. The research of literary names as parts of idiomatic expressions in the novel “Murder on the Orient Express” by A. Christie is carried out. Based on the results, we present our own classification of phraseological units with an anthroponymic component. The analysis of the anthropological and phraseological aspect of the novel allows us to determine the anthroponym as a key element in the process of creating of the word picture, which is the personal guide of the reader that brings them to the world of the mysterious reality of the literary work.

Key words: anthroponymics, detective story, real anthroponyms, mythological anthroponyms, figurative names, phraseological unit.

Introduction

Statement of the problem. Onomastics is a branch of linguistics the focus of which is the analysis of proper names that in their turn are carriers of socio-cultural information and reflect the main values of society. Depending on the nature of proper names, onomastics divides into the following branches: anthroponymics (names of people), astronymics (names of space objects), zoonymics (names and nicknames of animals), caronymics (names of ships), theonymics (names of gods and deities), toponym- ics (names of geographical objects), ethnonymics (names of tribes and nations). Since the development of the lexical and phraseological foundations of any language, including English, is based on the anthropocentrism, on the so-called principle of “person in language” (Benvenist, 2002: 257), special attention is paid to the anthroponymics, the objects of study and analysis of which are anthroponyms.

Research analysis. Anthroponyms became a common object of linguistic researches in the middle of the XX century. Cognitive and conceptual onomastic analysis may be considered to be the main method of analysis of proper names in general, and people's names in particular. Such linguists as D. I. Ermo- lovych, M. Ya. Bloch, S. I. Zynin, O. V. Speran- ska, Yu. O. Karpenko, A. Vezhbytska, E. Benvenist, S. Kripke, С. К. Evans, W. F Nicolaisen, O. K. Scarle, E. Ehrlich, Н. Storm, Р. Hanks and T. Freedman have made a significant contribution to the development of onomastics as a linguistic discipline. The works of all the above-mentioned scientists widely reveal the specific features of the cognitive mechanisms of forming the meaning of proper names, their semantics as well as knowledge about the onomastic fragment of reality.

Purpose of the article- to determine the principal functional and semantic features of anthroponyms as components of phraseological units in the detective story “Murder on the Orient Express” by A. Christie, as well as to present our own version of their classification.

Presenting main material

The anthroponymic system is a complex of personal names that reflect the main characteristics of their bearers in the linguistic and cultural spaces. Personal names of people are kinds of signs and symbols that form a unified code system of a particular language, in which the specifics of the mentality as well as national and cultural values of the people are encrypted.

Anthroponyms are a set of personal names that identify a real person (real anthroponyms) or a fictional character (mythological anthroponyms). This set includes people's first and last names, nicknames, pen or stage names, and so on. The concept of “anthroponym” was first introduced into science by the Portuguese linguist Zh. Leite Vasconselva in 1887 (Vinogradov, 1997: 10).

The Soviet linguist D. I. Ermolovich singles out the following main features of anthroponyms (Ermo- lovich, 2001: 38): anthroponym english christie

a) indication of the person: Ravi, Olivia;

b) indication of belonging people to a certain national and linguistic community: Robin, Henry, William (English community) in contrast to Rene (French), Henri (Estonian), Wilhelm (German);

c) indication of gender prepossession: Michael, Jared, Jenna, Elizabeth.

1) Celtic period (c. 600 BC);

2) Anglo-Saxon period (IV--VI);

3) Viking period (IX-X);

4) Norman period (XI);

5) the period of English Reformation (XVI);

6) the period of Renaissance, or the century of Shakespeare (XVI-XVII).

1) male (Charles, Gerald, William) and female (Emily, Irene, Margaret);

2) full (Nicholas, Dorothy, Olivia), short forms (Nick, Doll, Livia) and pet names (Nicky, Dolly, Olly) (Buren, 1977: 125-126).

1) full names:

a) marked (William, Deborah);

b) unmarked (Martin, Clare);

2) short forms:

a) marked (Ter, Ger, Deb, Pen);

b) unmarked (Tom, Pam);

3) names ending -ie / -y:

a) marked (Jimmy, Bobby, Pammy, Ruthie);

b) unmarked (Penny, Debbie, Terry, Jerry) (Wierzbicka, 2006: 156-157).

1) full names (Christopher, Edmund, Helen, Jane, Margaret);

2) variants of full names (Kristopher, Edmond, Ellen, Janice, Marget);

3) derivatives of full names (Kit, Kris, Ella, Nell, Ed, Ned, Janie, Greta, Megan). He refers short forms of personal names and pet names to derivatives as well (Rybakin, 2000: 8).

1) naturally created names: Hector, Henry, Natalia;

2) artificially created names:

a) real-life names: Mary, Helena, Greta ;

b) literary names:

- names whose structure does not indicate any features of the nature or appearance of the characters (lack-of-expressiveness names): Linda, Pierre;

- names that have an explicit expressive and evaluative function (expressively rich names, or talkative names). In the novel “Murder on the Orient Express”, the following first and last names of the characters may be attached to this category:

Example: “Colonel Armstrong was an Englishman - a VC” (V.C. is a colloquial expression for war hero awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery) (Christie, 2008: 83).

2) Mr Hardman: Hard + Man - “bold man”. The author wanted to point out the personal qualities of this character, namely his courage, because after his beloved Susanna committed suicide because of Ratchett's tricks (“...in a fit of despair the poor girl threw herself from a window and was killed” (Christie, 2008: 84)), he did not lose heart and dared to avenge for his beloved's death, taking part in the murder of the executioner Ratchett (“... he had been in love with the French girl” (Christie, 2008: 300)).

For example, in the novel “Murder on the Orient Express”, the author named the daughter of Colonel Armstrong Daisy. This flower is a symbol of tenderness and kindness, and the association of the girl's name with a daisy reveals these qualities in the heroine's nature: “... darling, darling Daisy. She was so sweet - so happy - she had such lovely curls. We were all just crazy about her” (Christie, 2008: 256). Taking into consideration the part of the description of Daisy “...she had such lovely curls...”, we also can say about her congeniality with an angel that is also often depicted with sun-coloured curly hair as well.

1) Colonel Arbuthnot - colonel;

2) Hildegarde Schmidt - German;

3) Greta Ohlsson - Sweden.

1. Nominative function. It serves to identify the names of characters without resorting to their qualitative characteristics: Mary, Natalia, Hildegarde.

2. Differentiating function. It distinguishes a personal name from a number of similar ones. This function helps the reader to identify a certain character from all the others using their personal name: Sonia, Helena, Antonio.

3. Identification function. It means the presence of words-identifiers in a literary work that are used along with the name of the character and most often indicate the type of their activity: Colonel Arbuthnot - colonel; Dr. Constantine - doctor.

4. Illusionary function. It aims at creating and maintaining the level of mystique of a fictional reality (Vereshchagin, 2003: 198). In the novel “Murder on the Orient Express”, people of different nationalities gathered on the train - Germans, French, Belgians, Russians, British, Americans. They have their own languages, and the author uses borrowed vocabulary in the work in order to plunge the reader deeper into the atmosphere of a fictional reality. The borrowed vocabulary mainly consists of Germanisms and Fren- chisms: Fraulein (Miss), mais oui (yes), mon cher (my friend).

1. Idioms with Bible-related anthroponyms:

- a doubting Thomas - a person who doubts everything;

- David and Jonathan - true friends;

- as old as Methuselah - very old person;

- bow down in the house of Rimmon - to act contrary to one's principles.

2. Idioms with anthroponyms of ancient origin:

- cut the Gordian knot - to solve the difficult problem;

- the thread of Ariadne - the way that helps get out of the complicated situation;

- Herculean effort - titanic effort;

- Janus-faced - hypocritical person.

3. Idioms with names of known figures:

- Jack Ketch - very cruel person;

- John Hancock - signature; to put a signature;

- Florence Nightingale - a person who always helps the sick, the poor and the infirm;

- Old Harry - devil; brutal person.

4. Idioms with representative names in the context of English and American literature:

- Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - a person whose nature contains both bad and good qualities;

- Becky Sharp - an adventurer who tries to get their goals at any cost;

- Rip Van Winkle - an old-fashioned retrograde person;

- Dorian Grey - narcissistic egoist.

1. Phraseological units with real anthroponyms - personal names of real people:

- I read my Dickens - be absolutely sure of something.

Here, we are talking about the famous English writer Charles Dickens, who was Agatha Christie's favorite author. In the novel, this expression occurs in the following context: “I read my Dickens. M. Harris he will not arrive” (Christie, 2008: 24).

- The pen of a Balzac - unsurpassed poetic talent.

We are talking about the famous French writer Honore de Balzac, who is the personification of unsurpassed poetic talent. Monsieur Bouc says that if he had such a poetic talent, he would be able to describe everything that is happening in the best possible way: “If I had but the pen of a Balzac! I would depict this scene” (Christie, 2008: 27).

2. Phraseological units with mythological anthroponyms - personal names of fictional creatures or characters in literary works:

a) idioms with the names related to the realia of the English culture:

- John Bull - an unpleasant person.

John Bull is a biased nickname for an Englishman. In the work, this is exactly what Antonio Foscarelli, Italian agent for Ford motor cars, calls the valet Masterman who was in the same compartment with him: “... Then I go back to my compartment. It's empty. The miserable John Bull who shares it with me is away attending to his master. At last he comes back - very long face as usual...” (Christie, 2008: 165).

b) idioms with the names related to the Greek mythology:

- Hercule Poirot - a very attentive person who is able to notice all the details; an erudite, resourceful detective.

1) “But you, you are at the top of the tree nowadays, mon vieux” (Christie, 2008: 19);

2) “I know your reputation. I know something of your methods. This is the ideal case for you” (Christie, 2008: 56);

3) “But have I not heard you say often that to solve a case a man has only to lie back in his chair and think?” (Christie, 2008: 56).

c) idioms with the names of characters of the novel:

- characters whose last names are of Italian origin:

- Antonio Foscarelli - a buoyant and friendly person.

1) “This wasn't a man who had to have information dragged from him” (Christie, 2008: 163);

2) “Then he rose, his smile as engaging as ever” (Christie, 2008: 166).

- Casseti - cold-blooded murderer.

1) “This is the man who murdered little Daisy Armstrong. Casseti” (Christie, 2008: 82);

2) “About six month later, this man Casseti was arrested as a head of the gang who had kidnapped the child. They had used the same methods in the past. If the police seemed likely to get on their trail, they killed their prisoner, hid body, and continued to extract as much money as possible before the crime was discovered” (Christie, 2008: 84).

- Who murdered Casseti? - a very difficult and knotty case, which takes time to solve.

- characters whose last names are of English origin:

- Valet Masterman - a person who is biased against representatives of other nationalities.

1) “He's a Britisher and, as he calls it, he «keeps to himself». He has a low opinion of Americans” (Christie, 2008: 67);

2) “I don't care very much for Americans, sir” (Christie, 2008: 104).

- Mrs. Habbard - chatterbox; a person with good intuition.

1) “Poirot, by now, knew all about Mrs. Habbard's daughter. Everyone on the train who could understand English did!” (Christie, 2008: 39);

2) “I just cant get over it. Casseti - on this train. I had a hunch about that man, didn'tI, Mr. Poirot?” (Christie, 2008: 116).

Conclusions

The anthroponym is a universal lexical component of the language, the features of the structure and functioning of which reflect the specifics of a particular ethnic group, being a valuable source in the study of the language and the socio-cultural life of the people both in the past and at the present stage of their development. The role of personal names in fiction is especially important. Since a person is at the epicenter of any work, the entire nature of further events is aimed at revealing their qualities, and the name is a key element in creating a word picture. Phraseological units are often used to reflect the atmosphere of the work better and make the reader plunge into the world of “parallel reality”. Using the example of the analysis of the detective story “Murder on the Orient Express” by A. Christie, we proved the significant role of the anthroponymic component in idioms. Based on the history of the origin and semantics of personal names, we have proposed their classification, which reflects a fairly high level of literary imagery of the novel. Therefore, our research confirms that anthroponyms occupy an important place not only in linguistics, but also in literary studies.

Список використаних джерел

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References

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