Saturday, July 27, 2013

25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences

We have already written about the forthcoming ICOS 2014 in Glasgow:

http://e-onomastics.blogspot.de/2013/05/icos-2014.html

We have already mentioned the opening of the Glaswegian website for ICOS 2014:

http://e-onomastics.blogspot.de/2013/07/icos-2014-website-now-open.html

As we know the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences will be held at the University of Glasgow on 25‐29 August 2014.

The new information is:

- Delegates will be welcomed at an evening reception on Sunday 24 August, followed by the main Congress opening on Monday 25 August. 

- Papers and posters will be presented throughout the week, with full‐day excursions on Wednesday 27 August. A prize will be awarded for the best poster. 

The theme of ICOS 2014 is Names and their Environment.

Keynote speakers are:


  •  Richard Coates, University of the West of England: ‘Family Names in the UK and Beyond


(on the right)


  •  Peder Gammeltoft, University of Copenhagen: ‘Onomastics for All: How can New Technology Help Broaden the Appeal of Name Research?’


(on the right)


Proposals are welcome for 20‐minute papers and posters on all aspects of name studies. 

Abstracts can be submitted online via the Congress website, which is now available at http://www.icos2014.com/

For all further information on the Congress, please see the website, or contact Carole Houghcarole.hough@glasgow.ac.uk

Mærkelige bynavne på medierundtur

Mærkelige bynavne på medierundtur – Københavns Universitet


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Prinz von Cambridge heißt George Alexander Louis


RIA NovostiPrinz von Cambridge heißt George Alexander LouisPrinz von Cambridge heißt George Alexander Louis

21:37 24/07/2013 Prinz William und Herzogin Kate haben ihren ersten Sohn George Alexander Louis genannt.>>

Королевского ребенка назвали Джорджем Александром Луи

Королевского ребенка назвали Джорджем Александром Луи - BFM.ru

L'enfant de Kate et William se nomme George Alexander Louis

ROYAUME-UNI : L'enfant de Kate et William se nomme George Alexander Louis | AllOverNews.net

Kate Middleton and Prince William Name Baby George Alexander Louis

Kate Middleton and Prince William Name Baby George Alexander Louis - ABC News

Isonymy and the genetic structure of Switzerland. II. Isolation by distance.

Annals of Human Biology. 1998 Nov-Dec; 25(6):533-40.
Isonymy and the genetic structure of Switzerland. II. Isolation by distance.
Rodriguez-Larralde A, Scapoli C, Beretta M, Nesti C, Mamolini E, Barrai I.
Instituto Venezolano de Investigacciones Cientificas, Caracas, Venezuela.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9818960
http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03014469800006772 

Summary
Isolation by distance in Switzerland was detected comparing the surname distributions between Cantons. The decay of isonymy with geographic distance between Cantons was consistent with Malecot's exponential decay of kinship. Lasker's distance was defined as the negative value of the logarithm of isonymy between localities, and it was found that it is linearly and significantly correlated with the log of geographic distance, both within and between languages. The peculiar geographic and linguistic structure of the Confederation, where mountain barriers exist at short distances separating different languages, might explain the rapid changes in surname similarity. It was predicted that the frequency of markers linked to the Y chromosome would show a similar association with distance in Switzerland.

Zusammenfassung
Durch einen Vergleich der Verteilung von Nachnamen zwischen den Kantonen wurde in der Schweiz eine Isolation durch Distanz entdeckt. Die Abnahme der Isonymie zwischen Kantonen mit der geographischen Distanz entsprach der exponentiellen Abnahme von Malecots Kinship-Index. Der Abstand nach Lasker wurde als negativer Wert des Logarithmus der Isonymie zwischen Lokalitäten definiert. Es zeigte sich, daß dieser Abstand linear und signifikant mit dem Logarithmus der geographischen Distanz korreliert ist, sowohl innerhalb als auch zwischen Sprachengruppen. Die besondere geographische und sprachliche Struktur der Konföderation, in der auf kurze Distanzen Gebirgsbarrieren existieren, die verschiedenen Sprachen voneinander trennen, könnten die raschen Veränderungen in der Ähnlichkeit von Nachnamen erklären. Es wird angenommen, daß die Frequenz von Markern, die auf dem Y-Chromosom lokalisiert sind, eine ähnliche Beziehung zu Entfernungen in der Schweiz erkennen lassen.

Résumé
L'isolement par la distance en Suisse a été recherché en comparant la distribution des noms de famille entre les cantons. La diminution de l'isonymie avec la distance géographique entre cantons est conforme avec le déclin exponentiel de parenté de Malécot. La distance de Lasker a été définie comme la valeur négative du logarithme de l'isonymie entre localités et il a été observé qu'elle était corrélée linéairement et significativement avec le log de la distance géographique, aussi bien dans une me˘me langue que dans deux langues différentes. Les structures géographique et linguistique particulières de la Confédération, où des barrières montagneuses existent à courte distance séparant des langues différentes pourraient expliquer les changements rapides dans la similarité des noms. On prédit que la fréquence des marqueurs liés au chromosome Y doit présenter une semblable association à la distance en Suisse.


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dolphins can use names to address each other

Dolphins are unique species of mammals, except human beings, who call each other by names. To such a conclusion came in the article of the scientific journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (http://www.pnas.org/) Scottish biologists Stephanie L. King (http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/contact/staffProfile.aspx?sunid=slk33) and Vincent M. Jenik (http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/contact/staffProfile.aspx?sunid=vj) from the University of St. Andrews.

Abstract


In animal communication research, vocal labeling refers to incidents in which an animal consistently uses a specific acoustic signal when presented with a specific object or class of objects. Labeling with learned signals is a foundation of human language but is notably rare in nonhuman communication systems. In natural animal systems, labeling often occurs with signals that are not influenced by learning, such as in alarm and food calling. There is a suggestion, however, that some species use learned signals to label conspecific individuals in their own communication system when mimicking individually distinctive calls. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are a promising animal for exploration in this area because they are capable of vocal production learning and can learn to use arbitrary signals to report the presence or absence of objects. Bottlenose dolphins develop their own unique identity signal, the signature whistle. This whistle encodes individual identity independently of voice features. The copying of signature whistles may therefore allow animals to label or address one another. Here, we show that wild bottlenose dolphins respond to hearing a copy of their own signature whistle by calling back. Animals did not respond to whistles that were not their own signature. This study provides compelling evidence that a dolphin’s learned identity signal is used as a label when addressing conspecifics. Bottlenose dolphins therefore appear to be unique as nonhuman mammals to use learned signals as individually specific labels for different social companions in their own natural communication system.



in English:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=dolphins-may-have-individual-names-13-07-22
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/hey-flipper-how-dolphins-learn-each-others-names-6C10713827
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324144304578621990347719794.html
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/07/dolphin-signature-whistles/

in Russian: http://www.inopressa.ru/article/23Jul2013/focus/delfine.html

in German: http://www.scienceticker.info/2013/07/22/delfine-reagieren-auf-ihren-namen/

in French: http://lci.tf1.fr/science/environnement/les-dauphins-sauvages-s-appellent-par-leur-nom-8173742.html 
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/science/2013/07/22/003-dauphins-sifflement-unique.shtml


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Proper noun


Why Startups Are Sporting Increasingly Quirky Names


The New York cousins who started a digital sing-along storybook business have settled on the name Mibblio.
The Australian founder of a startup connecting big companies to big-data scientists has dubbed his service Kaggle.
The former toy executive behind a two-year-old mobile screen-sharing platform is going with the name Shodogg.
And the Missourian who founded a website giving customers access to local merchants and service providers? He thinks it should be called Zaarly.
Quirky names for startups first surfaced about 20 years ago in Silicon Valley, with the birth of search engines such as Yahoo, (YHOO -1.85%) —which stands for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," and Google, (GOOG -1.55%) a misspelling of googol,” the almost unfathomably high number represented by a 1 followed by 100 zeroes.



 Read further:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324263404578611772689785466.html#

Startups, stop choosing names that aren’t actual words

The latest startup boom has led to the creation of at least 161 companies that end in “ly,” “lee,” and “li,” which is, naming consultants tell us, 160 too many. There’s feedly, bitly, contactually, cloudly, along with a bunch of other company-LYS, all of which you can find on this Pinterest board, and all but the first ever “ly” name are “just lazy,” Nancy Friedman, a naming consultant, told The Atlantic Wire. The same goes for all the “ify,” “square,” “box,” any made up words, words spelled with extra letters, and the all caps, no vowels start-up names out there. They’re bad names and there’s no excuse for it.


Go on:

http://qz.com/105956/startups-stop-choosing-names-that-arent-actual-words/

Silicon Valley's Stupid Name Problem


Bitly, Borkly, Barnly, Molestly, Strinkingly, Happily, Crappily, Maply, Morply, Dottly, Dootly, Godly, Angrily. It's bad enough when every new startup is just based on the one that came before it. Now they all sound the same, too.



Keep reading under:
http://valleywag.gawker.com/silicon-valleys-stupid-name-problem-visualized-839863672 

In Memoriam: Vincent Blanár

It is with deep regret that the ICOS Board marks the passing of Prof. Vincent Blanár.



Vincent Blanár was a leading Slovak linguist, an initiator of Slovak lexicology and onomastics, a former researcher at the Jazykovedný ústav Ľudovíta Štúra Slovenskej akadémie vied (Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences) in Bratislava and a professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava.


His theoretical concepts have become the basis of the Slovak school of onomastics.



He placed particular emphasis on the linguistic and onomastic status of a proper name, the content and linguistic aspects of onymic signs, the functional and systemic points of view on proper names, models in onymic systems and the utilisation of linguistic devices in particular systems of proper names. He passed away on 27 September 2012 at almost 92 years of age.

http://www.teraz.sk/slovensko/zomrel-vyznamny-slovensky-jazykovedec/24264-clanok.html
http://www.onomastikblog.de/wuerdigungen/vincent_blanar_1920_2012/
http://www.osobnosti.sk/index.php?os=zivotopis&ID=59506



Thursday, July 18, 2013

Atti del XXII Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Onomastiche



http://www.edizioniets.it/scheda.asp?N=9788846729545

 This volume of NOMINATIO, like its four predecessors, is dedicated to the Proceedings of the XXII Congress of Onomastics, held in Pisa from August 28 to September 4, 2005. This 5th volume presents research papers from the 5th section Geographical Names, divided, like all the others, into two sub-sections: 5a Settlement Names and 5b Other Geographical Names. There are 69 papers in all, including the Introductions to the two sub-sections; 39 in Settlement Names and 30 in Other Geographical Names. The papers, many of which are enriched by illustrations and maps, are characterized by an interdisciplinary approach which, using sources and state-of-the art research instruments, touches on almost every place that has acquired a name, from antiquity to the present day, and from the old to the new world.




in Italian:
Anche questo volume di NOMINATIO, così come i 4 volumi precedenti, è dedicato agli Atti del XXII Congresso Internazionale di Scienze onomastiche che si è svolto a Pisa dal 28 agosto al 4 settembre del 2005: esso contiene i contributi della sezione 5 Toponomastica. Anche questa sezione, come tutte le altre, era divisa in due sottosezioni: 5a Microtoponomastica e 5b Macrotoponomastica. I contributi sono 69, comprese le due Introduzioni alle due sottosezioni: 39 nella sezione Microtoponomastica e 30 nella sezione Macrotoponomastica. La caratteristica che si coglie in questi contributi, molti corredati da immagini e cartine geografiche, è quella di una ampia articolazione interdisciplinare che, utilizzando fonti e strumenti di indagine modernissimi, tocca quasi tutti i tipi di luoghi che hanno ricevuto un nome, dall'antichità all'età contemporanea e dal vecchio al nuovo mondo.

in French:
Ce volume de NOMINATIO, de même que les quatre volumes déjà parus, est consacré aux Actes du XXIIème Congrès International des Sciences Onomastiques qui s'est déroulé à Pise du 28 août au 4 septembre 2005: il contient les communications de la section 5 Toponymie. Cette section est, comme les autres, divisée en deux: 5a Microtoponymie et 5b Macrotoponymie. Les communications sont au nombre de 69, y comprises les Introductions aux sous-sections: 39 dans la première, 30 dans la seconde. La principale caractéristique de ces articles, dont plusieurs sont accompagnés d'illustrations et de cartes, est une ample articulation interdisciplinaire qui, en utilisant des sources et instruments d'étude très modernes, touche presque toutes les typologies des lieux qui ont reçu un nom, de l'Antiquité à aujourd'hui et du Vieux au Nouveau Monde.

in German:
Dieser Band der Reihe NOMINATIO ist, wie die vier anderen, bereits erschienenen Bände, den Akten des 20. Internationalen Kongresses fûr Namenforschung gewidmet, der vom 28. August bis zum 4. September 2005 in Pisa stattgefunden hat. Hierin sind die Beiträge der Sektion 5 Geographische Namen erhalten. Auch diese Sektion, wie alle anderen, ist in zwei weitere Sektionen unterteilt: 5a Siedlungsnamen und 5b Andere geographische Namen. Einschließlich der Einfu_hrungen zu den beiden Sektionen, enthält der Band insgesamt 69 Beiträge: 39 in der Sektion Siedlungsnamen und 30 in der Sektion Andere geographische Namen. In sämtlichen Beiträgen lässt sich eine Besonderheit bemerken: Alle zeigen einen breiten interdisziplinären Ansatz, welcher mit Hilfe von sehr modernen Quellen und Methoden fast die gesamte Typologie von Ortschaften, die einen Namen erhalten haben, vom Altertum bis zur Gegenwart, von der alten bis zur neuen Welt umfasst.


http://www.amazon.it/congresso-internazionale-onomastiche-agosto-4-settembre/dp/8846721500
http://books.google.de/books/about/Atti_del_XXII_Congresso_internazionale_d.html?id=iAwEPgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y
http://www.ciao.it/Atti_del_XXII_Congresso_internazionale_di_scienze_onomastiche_Pisa_28_agosto_4_settembre_2005__2209482

Monday, July 15, 2013

Que dit un prénom?



Entretien avec Baptiste Coulmont von laviedesidees

Bac 2013 and forenames

"Baccalauréat", France's national secondary-school (lycée) diploma (Bac) of 2013 and first names


20% of Adele and Diane had mention "très bien" which is "summa cum laude", meaning "with highest honor", against only 2.5% of Sabrina


Dr. Baptiste Coulmont, the French sociologist who published "Sociologie des prénoms", for years was taking an interest in names and since 2013 carrying out a project on the correspondence between names and "baccalauréats" with distinction of the students (pass 80% upwards from the French mark 20).

Its annual study does not reveal the miracle forename that will give honors to a child, but "draw a social space which immediately makes sense," explains author in his blog: http://coulmont.com/blog/2013/07/07/prenoms-mentions-bac-2013/

Finally, the names of its scheme in 2013 are distributed between those chosen by parents from the intellectual classes, bourgeoisie or executive staff on the one side, and those chosen by the parents of the working class on the other side.


So, we may find out that in 2013, 20% of Dianes and Adeles have obtained "baccalauréats" with distinction, followed by Juliet, Alice, Louise, Anne and Alix (all around 17/18%). Girls are in with the front runners and Gregory is the only male name to rise above 15%. The researcher explains that at school girls usually perform better than boys. However, he is wondering whether the names of the boys from upper classes are socially less divisive than the girls' ones.

At the other end of the names' cloud, there are about 3% of Kevins, Jordans, Dylans, Stevens and Sonias, Cindys and Mohameds who have got "baccalauréats" with distinction in 2013. The database, containing names which appear more than 30 times, has been made up of 338.000 candidates for the general and technological Bac who  had an average of more than 8 of 20 and accepted the dissemination of their results.

As they wrote at the time of the precendent study by Dr. Coulmont after graduating in 2012, it's well-known that the names of Anglo-Saxon origin, issued by the culture of American TV series, had been very popular among the less educated social groups (workers and employees). The study of associations between names and results at school is an indirect way to identify the relationship between the educational level of parents and the educational achievement of their children ...

As for names of North African origin like Youssef, Nabil and Mohamed, this is also the social origin of the parents that can be seen in the success of children at school. A large percentage of immigrant children is experiencing learning difficulties according to the OECD Pisa in 2009, and two-thirds of such children have parents who are workers. More than 58% of fathers and 62% of mothers of children from the immigrant families have not graduated, against 12% and 14% for children from the non-immigrant families.





Sunday, July 14, 2013

In Memoriam: Ernst Eichler


It is with deep regret that the ICOS Board marks the passing of Prof. Ernst Eichler.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Eichler_(Linguist)



Ernst Eichler was a highly prolific researcher in Slavic linguistics and language history, with a vast number of publications to his name.

http://www.domowina-verlag.de/de/autoren/64-eichler-ernst



 A long‐standing member of the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig (Saxonian Academy of Sciences in Leipzig), Prof. Eichler served for twenty years as professor of Czech language at the University of Leipzig, and continued his research after retirement.

http://www.sudetendeutsche-akademie.eu/Eichler.htm



He passed away in Leipzig on 29 June 2012.



Some publications:







ICOS Board 2011-2014

Executive members:

President: Carole Hough (Scotland)
http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/staff/carolehough/

Vice‐President: Richard Coates (England)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Coates


Vice‐President: Milan Harvalík (Czech Republic)
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Harval%C3%ADk

Secretary: Guy Puzey (Scotland)

http://edinburgh.academia.edu/GuyPuzey
http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/guy-puzey(8a2b746b-ccfa-4f77-898a-ad67fb28b58e).html 

Treasurer: Staffan Nyström (Sweden)

http://katalog.uu.se/empInfo?id=N8-337

Assistant Secretary and Web Officer: Antti Leino (Finland)

http://www.helsinki.fi/~leino/


Non‐executive members:

Terhi Ainiala (Finland)

http://www.kotus.fi/?s=3240

Lidia Becker (Germany)

http://www.romanistik.phil.uni-hannover.de/lidia_becker.html

Ian Clark (Australia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_D._Clark_(historian)

Barbara Czopek‐Kopciuch (Poland)

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Czopek-Kopciuch

Laura Kostanski (Australia)

http://ballarat.academia.edu/LauraKostanski

Kaisa Rautio Helander (Norway)

http://www.hallinto.oulu.fi/viestin/vaitos08/rautio_helander.html

Friday, July 12, 2013

ICOS 2014 website now open



ICOS is delighted to announce that details of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, to be held from 25 to 29 August 2014 at the University of Glasgow, are now available on the Congress website at http://www.icos2014.com/


We look forward to welcoming you to Scotland next year!


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Isonymy and the genetic structure of Switzerland I. The distributions of surnames


1996, Vol. 23, No. 6 , Pages 431-455 (doi:10.1080/03014469600004672)

by I. Barrai, C. Scapoli, M. Beretta, C. Nesti, E. Mamolini and A. Rodriguez-Larralde

from University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy and IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03014469600004672
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8933911


Summary

The surname distribution of the population of Switzerland was studied using a sample of 1 702 000 private users registered for the year 1994 in the Helvetic Telephone Directory. These users were distributed in four linguistic areas, in 26 Cantons and 271 Communes of the Confederation. Estimates of unbiased random isonymy, of Fisher's α, an indicator of abundance of surnames converging to the allele effective number in standard genetic polymorphisms, and of Karlin-McGregor's, v, an indicator of immigration rates, were calculated for each Commune, each Canton, each linguistic area and for the whole Confederation. The Commune with the highest value of α was Geneva (α = 5312) followed by Versoix (3713) and by the Communes of Vaud on the north shore of Lake Leman, Chavannes (3381), Montreux (3200), Nyon (3114) and Lausanne (3109). The Italian-speaking Communes of the Ticino were next. The lowest value (α = 29) was observed in Poschiavo, south of the Berninapass; α = 39 was observed in Einsiedeln (Schwyz); then Mels and Widnau (62 and 67, Canton of St Gallen), Frutingen in Bern (72), and Appenzell (80). Accordingly, the highest consanguinity values were observed in the Grisons and in the nucleus of the founding Cantons, while the lowest were observed in the Cantons of Geneva and Vaud, preferential areas of immigration to Switzerland from abroad. The effect of subdivision on isonymy is large at the Commune level, and decreases in Cantons and linguistic groups. French and Italian languages indicate minor, German and Romanisch major inbreeding.


Zusammenfassung

An einer Stichprobe von 1 702 000 für das Jahr 1994 im Schweizer Telefonverzeichnis registrierten privaten Telefonnutzern wurde die Verteilung der Familiennamen in der Schweizer Bevölkerung untersucht. Die Nutzer verteilten sich auf vier Sprachgebiete, 26 Kantone und 271 Gemeinden der Konföderation. Für jede Gemeinde, jedes Kanton, jedes Sprachgebiet und die gesamte Schweizer Konföderation wurden Schätzwerte der unverzerrten zufälligen Isonymie, von Fishers α, einem Indikator des Überschusses von Familiennamen, der bei genetischen Standardpolymorphismen gegen die effektive Allelzahl konvergiert und von Karlin-McGregor v, einem Indikator der Immigrationsrate, berechnet. Genf erwies sich als Gemeinde mit dem höchsten α-Wert (α = 5312), gefolgt von Versoix (3713) und der Gemeinde Vaud am nördlichen Ufer des Genfer Sees, Chavannes (3381), Montreux (3200), Nyon (3114) und Lausanne (3109). Danach folgten die italienisch sprechenden Gemeinden des Tessins. Der kleinste (α-Wert wurde in Poschiavo, südlich des Berninapasses beobachtet (α = 29), ein α-Wert von 39 wurde in Einsiedeln (Schwyz) beobachtet; es folgten Mels und Widnau (62 und 67 im Kanton St. Gallen), Frutingen in Bern (72) und Appenzell (80). Entsprechend wurden die höchsten Konsanguinitätswerte in Graubünden und in den Kerngebieten der Kantone beobachtet während die niedrigsten Werte in den Kantonen Genf und Vaud, den bevorzugten Immigrationsgebieten der Schweiz für ausländische Einwanderer, beobachtet wurden. Auf dem Niveau der Gemeinden ist der Effekt der Untergliederung auf die Isonymie groß, in Kantonen und Sprachgruppen nimmt er ab. Die französische und die italienische Sprachgruppe lassen ein geringes, die deutsche und die romanische Sprache ein hohes Ausmaß an Inbreeding erkennen.

Résumé

La distribution des noms de famille dans la population suisse a été étudiée `a partir d'un échantillonnage de 1 702 000 particuliers, enregistrés en 1994 par le Directoire Helvétique du Téléphone. ces utilisateurs étaient répartis dans quatre aires linguistiques, 26 cantons et 271 communes de la Confédération. Des estimations non biaisées de l'isonymie aléatoire, du α de Fisher, d'un indicateur de l'abondance des noms de famille convergeant avec le nombre effectif d'all`eles dans les polymorphismes génétiques standart, du y de Karlin-McGregor et d'un indicateur des taux d'immigration, ont été calculées pour chaque commune, chaque canton, chaque aire linguistique ainsi que pour l'ensemble de la confédération. La commune ayant le α le plus élevé est Gen`eve (α = 5312) suivie par Versoix (3713) et par les communes de Vaud sur la rive nord du lac Léman, Chavannes (3381), Montreux (3200), Nyon (3114) et Lausanne (3109), les communes tessinoises de langue italienne venant ensuite. Les plus basses valeurs (α = 29) ont été observées `a Poschiavo au sud du col de Bernin; α = 39 a été observé `a Einsiedeln (Schwyz); puis Mels et Widnau (62 et 67), canton de St Gallen); Frutingen dans le canton de Berne (72) et Appenzell (80). Comme on pouvait le penser, les plus hautes valeurs de consanguinité ont été observées dans les Grisons et dans le noyau des cantons fondateurs, alors que les plus basses étaient trouvées dans les cantons de Gen`eve et de Vaud, aires préférentielles d'immigration d'étrangers. L'effet de la subdivision sur l'isonymie est grand au niveau de la commune et décroit `a celui des cantons et des groupes linguistiques. Les langues française et italienne indiquent une consanguinité moins élevée, les langues romane et germanique une consanguinité plus forte.





Isonymy and repeated pairs of surnames among the Muslims of Manipur


Isonymy and repeated pairs of surnames among the Muslims of Manipur, India

M. Asghar (a), B. Murry (b), K.N. Saraswathy (b)

a Department of Anthropology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
b Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India


in HOMO - Journal of Comparative Human Biology


http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jchb.2013.03.008
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018442X1300084X
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23639790


Abstract

Surnames have been used for studying population structure in different parts of the globe. The present study is aimed at indirectly estimating the degree of inbreeding from surnames and understanding the influences of the clan-like structure on mate selection among Manipuri Muslims. The proportion of isonymy I was found to be 0.0144. The non-random and random components were −0.0226 and 0.0239, respectively. The total inbreeding coefficient was estimated to be 0.0018. The scores of random pairs (RP) and random repeated pairs (RPr) were 0.026 and 0.010, respectively. The score of RP was higher than the RPr which gives a ratio of 0.38, indicating that Manipuri Muslims have a tendency of acquiring mates from within a given set of surnames while not in favour of isonymy. To conclude, surname/clan is a criterion for mate selection for various reasons among this population.


Friday, July 5, 2013

Unfortunate Bible names

Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

http://www.carolyoon.com/page1/page1.html


Biologist and journalist Carol Kaesuk Yoon takes us beyond genus and species to deep cognition, revealing our drive to name life. She tells the strange story of scientists leading people away from the impulse to name the living world, even as they are driven by it. Naming Nature, sure to delight readers who love words and nature, is a rich journey from Linnaeus, whose system turned classification from a hobby to a science, and Darwin, who ended the idea of rigid species definitions, to today’s dream of naming all of earth’s species and listing them online. Readers will see science’s limitations and will feel the urgency of staying connected to the natural world by using familiar, rather than scientific, names. Naming Nature illuminates the reasons why we might care less whether a whale is a fish or a mammal as long as we know its importance in our world.



http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393338711?tag=carkaeyoo-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0393338711&adid=0QATK2E2CXZD6V9Q6MQE

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393061973?tag=carkaeyoo-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0393061973&adid=1MH6PAVMW7S0Z0YW1V5P&


"What's in a name" (Workshop)


On Legal Name Changes


Spatial data mining as an onomastic tool


SmartCity : Geodemography, Onomastics and Megacities


Monday, July 1, 2013

Role de l'Enonciation dans l'analyse linguistique du nom propre

http://www.amazon.fr/Role-lEnonciation-lanalyse-linguistique-propre/dp/2359350749

New onomastic publication based on the PhD thesis of Agathe Cormier under the direction of my doctoral supervisor Prof. Jeandillou.

I would translate the title as follows: Role of the Locutionary Act in the Linguistic Analysis of Proper Name 





Résumé
The purpose of this work is to show that acts of utterance play an important role in the institution and the interpretation of proper names.The definition of proper names as signs contains, in addition to the signifiant and the signifié, the referent, that is to say a reference to the actualization of the sign in discourse. That is why proper names are on the margins of structuralist linguistics. Moreover, the meaning of a proper name – “x named N by S” – is defined as a denominative relation between an individual (x) and a proper name (N) expressed by an utterer (S), depending on an act of naming which associates a name with an individual and initiates the use of this name.The value of the variables x, N and S is defined for a given occurrence of a proper name according to the situation of utterance and to a logically prior act of naming. The linguistic notion of person precisely allows to account for this relation between the referent of the proper name and the act of utterance and for the role of the context in the interpretation of the proper name. This notion appears to be essential for analysing out of sentence proper names which are linguistic context-free but extralinguistic context-dependent. The comparison between proper names and shifters and indexicals, which are traditionally defined as involving a reference to the speech situation, leads also to consider that the interpretation of a proper name is entirely determined by the context and especially by the identity of the enunciative persons.

 in French:
La définition du nom propre comme signe linguistique contient, outre le signifiant et le signifié, le référent, c est-à-dire un renvoi à l actualisation du signe dans le discours, ce qui explique la marginalité du nom propre dans la linguistique structuraliste. En mêlant aux analyses linguistiques des réflexions d ordre philosophique, cet ouvrage vise à montrer que l énonciation joue un rôle essentiel dans l institution et l interprétation des noms propres. Le sens d un nom propre « x appelé N par S » y est ainsi défini comme procédant d un acte de nomination et consistant dans une relation de dénomination entre un individu (x) et un nom propre (N) exprimée par un sujet énonciateur (S). Afin de préciser le rôle de l énonciation dans l analyse du nom propre et de rendre compte du rôle du contexte dans son interprétation, la notion linguistique de personne est utilisée pour décrire et distinguer les différents emplois du nom propre, et se révèle notamment indispensable pour l analyse du nom propre hors phrase, qui se caractérise à la fois par son indépendance vis-à-vis du cotexte et par une forte dépendance au contexte non verbal.

Biographie de l'auteur
Docteur en sciences du langage et titulaire d'un master de philosophie, Agathe Cormier est attaché d'enseignement et de recherche à l'Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. Ses recherches en analyse du discours portent principalement sur le nom propre et plus largement sur les phénomènes liés à la déixis.

Détails sur le produit
Broché: 290 pages
Editeur : Lambert-Lucas (27 mai 2013)
Langue : Français
ISBN-10: 2359350749
ISBN-13: 978-2359350746