Features of the Anthroponymic Complex of Vietnamese and Russian Languages

Truong Thi Xuan Huong Truong Thi Xuan Huong 117198, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6 xuanhuong203@gmail.com

IntroductionContrastive analysis is known as one of the most common methods of modern linguistics and is a comparative description of two or more languages, one of which, as a rule, is native to the author of the study.

The purpose of this type of analysis is to determine mutual structural correspondences and differences. In linguistics, the contrastive method was first applied in the joint work of I.A. Sternin and K. Fleckenstein "Essays on contrastive lexicography and phraseology" ^[1]. In the works performed by this method, the task is to identify and describe the categories and properties of the compared languages, reflecting their national specifics. Based on the material of the Vietnamese and Russian languages, this method has received the greatest development in lexicology ^[2] and paremiology ^[3]; to date, there are also works on various aspects of morphology ^[4], phonetics ^[5], syntax ^[6]. It is known that the semantics of anthroponymic units reflects the peculiarities of each linguistic culture, however, there are no scientific papers devoted to the comparison of this fragment of Vietnamese and Russian linguistic cultures, which determines the relevance of our research. His hypothesis was the assumption that despite the belonging of the Vietnamese and Russian languages to different language types and families, it is possible to detect lexico-semantic, formal and grammatical similarities determined by common internal patterns of language development.Methodological basis of the study began work on the anthroponyms of Vietnamese and Russian linguists: M. I. Bloch, and T. N. Semenova ^[7], M. L. Screener ^[8], I. A. Queen ^[9], M. A. Krongauz ^[10] A. V. Superanskaya ^{[11; 12]}, M. A. Sunnerberg ^[13], L. M. Shchetinin ^{[14; 15]}, H?i Dng Lan ^[16], L? Trung Hoa ^{[17; 18]}, Quang Nguy?n L? ^[19] etc., as well as cultural studies Thng T?a Th?ch Thanh Du?, and Nguy?n B?ch H?ng L? Th? Uy?n ^[20], Tr?n Ng?c Th?m ^[21] and Trng H?u Qu?nh ^[22].

Materials and the result of the study. Russian Russian anthroponyms dictionaries, theoretical works devoted to Russian and Vietnamese anthroponymicons, linguoculturological studies were used to conduct the research on the linguistic material obtained from the dictionaries of the anthroponyms of the Russian language. The comparative study made it possible to draw conclusions about the presence of such common and specific features of the anthroponymic complex as 1) the formal composition of names and 2) the origin of names.

Common featuresFormal composition.

The complete anthroponymic complex in the Vietnamese language consists of three or four words. Common with the Russian language is the distinguished surname that passes to the child from the parents, and two names (middle and personal), for example, Nguyen Shin Shak (Nguy?N Sinh S?c), a well-known public figure of Vietnam, and his son Nguyen Shin Kung (birth name Ho Chi Minh). The complete anthroponymic complex of the modern Russian language also consists of three words and represents the surname, first name and patronymic: Ivanov Alexander Petrovich. Common to the languages under consideration is the tendency to create an anthroponymic complex based on naming by the name of the head of the family.

Origin. The origin of Vietnamese surnames is determined by two main sources: the Chinese anthroponymicon associated with the long presence of the Chinese on the territory of Vietnam, and the general influence of Chinese culture in the region, which led to the emergence of mixed families defined by Chinese-origin words, for example, Wang (V?n from Chinese, is > 0.01% of the total number of Vietnamese surnames) and Li (L? from Chinese, is 0.5% of the total number of Vietnamese surnames) (see Table 1). The second method is the Vietnamese lexical units proper, which were used to name the small peoples of Vietnam, as well as representatives of social groups, for example, the surname Thich (Thich, is 0.5% of the total number of Vietnamese surnames) was given to Buddhist monks.

Table 1

Popular Vietnamese surnames as a percentage according to data obtained from open sources (Vietnamese names and surnames | Linguist.

Access mode: https://web.archive.org/web/20120123030128/http://www.lingvoblog.com/j-note105 (accessed: July 29, 2012)

Common with the Russian language for elements of the Vietnamese anthroponymic complex are such foundations of education as personal characteristics of a person, profession, generic names (patronyms and matronyms), borrowed vocabulary (see Table 2).

Table 2

Elements of the anthroponymic complex by originGrounds

Main differencesFormal composition.

Surname. An important difference between the anthroponymic complexes of the Russian and Vietnamese languages from the point of view of their composition is 1) mandatory word order, which does not involve inversion: surname + middle name + personal name (one or two words). For example: Truong Tan Shang (TrNg T?N Sang) or Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (Nguy?N th? Kim Ng?n) and 2) inheritance of the surname by the child from the father because women retain their own surname after marriage ^[25].

Nevertheless, Vietnamese linguists note a tendency towards the appearance of an anthroponymic complex consisting of four elements, in which the first two elements are the surnames of the father and mother, then the middle name and personal name, for example, Chan Nguyen Phuong Mai (Tr?N Nguy?N PhNg Mai) ^[13].

A special case is the inverse use of the Vietnamese anthroponymic complex by Vietnamese assimilated in European countries or the USA, for example, Dustin Nguyen (from Vietnamese Nguyen Xuan Chi, Nguy?N Xu?n Tr?).

Since there is a limited number of Vietnamese surnames (see Table 1), the main distinguishing function is carried out by personal names, which are very diverse. This is the reason for using a personal name to distinguish and to address in Vietnam: addressing a student from Vietnam, Fan Nguyen Han, in the audience suggests using the last element of the anthroponym: Han!

The Russian anthroponymic complex offers the use of the surname + first name + patronymic both in the full version and in the truncated (without patronymic), in the abbreviated (surname and first name in incomplete form), in the inverse (first name + surname; first name + patronymic + surname):

Ivanova Anna Petrovna — used in the format of a list, in official identity documents, etc.: "... the certificate was issued (to whom?) Pyrieva Anastasia Andreevna; the certificate was issued (by whom?) Anastasia Andreevna Pyrieva" ^[26];

Ivanova A. P. is an abbreviated version for a list, enumeration, mention mainly in an official business and scientific style: "We add that details about this problem are written in the work of E. V. Beshenkova and O. E. Ivanova "Theory and practice of rationing Russian writing", published on the website of the Spelling Commission" ^[26];

Ivanova Anna — used most often to name a child or teenager: "Congratulations to Ivan Ivanov, a 4th grade A student, and his supervisor Ivanov A. A. with a victory in the competition" ^[26];

Anna Petrovna Ivanova is an inversion usage characteristic of official documents of a subject orientation, for example, in the description of a particular person: "Everyone knows the name of the heroic lieutenant of the Black Sea Fleet Pyotr Petrovich Schmidt, composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian naval commanders Stepan Osipovich Makarov, Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov and many other outstanding people of the past" ^{[12, p. 123]};

Anna Ivanova is an inversion incomplete use, characteristic of pointing to a child, teenager or adult in informal communication: "The prize for the best player was awarded to Sergey Ivanov" ^[26];

Anya Ivanova is an inversion incomplete use, characteristic of pointing to a child or a close adult in informal communication, addressing with the potential or real possibility of finding several Ivanovs nearby; it is often used to create a creative pseudonym, for example Dima Bilan, Katya Lel.

Middle name. A feature of the Vietnamese language is the presence of a middle name, which linguists attribute to a later component of the anthroponymic complex than the surname ^{[17; 22]}.

The following main functions of the middle name in the Vietnamese language are distinguished:

1) gender difference related to the semantics of the middle name, for example, Thi (th?) marks a woman, because it has the meaning of ‘hardworking, smart girl’. The middle names of this type also include Zieu (Di?U) with the meaning of ‘beautiful’ and Ny (n?) with the meaning of ‘soft'. An example of an anthroponym indicating a man is Van (V?n), which has the meaning ‘literature’, thus, when choosing this name, parents hope that it will endear the boy to study;

2) marking of the family, clan, caused by the need to separate the bearers of the same surname into relatives and namesakes: ? ?ng Ng?C, ? ?ng v?, ? ?ng Xu? n (three different genders).

Personal name. The most important part of the Vietnamese anthroponymic complex is the personal name, as evidenced by its Vietnamese name t?n ch?nh ‘the main name’ or t?n g?i ‘the name that is called’ ^[13]. In Vietnam, there is no tradition of naming names in honor of great people and names that are borrowed words ^[20]. In the first case, the motivation is a sign of rudeness and disrespect when repeating the name of a great person, in the second case, the importance of the semantic load of the child's personal name.

Interesting are such naming traditions as:

1) choosing a name according to the year of birth (= eastern horoscope), which assumes, for example, children born in 2006 to be called a lexical unit Tuat (Tu?t) with the meaning of ‘dog’, however, researchers note a gradual departure from this tradition ^[25];

2) choosing a name for a newborn baby taking into account the names of his older brothers and sisters, for example, choosing all names by the name of a flower / plant, for example, Mock (M?c) with the meaning of ‘tree’, Bach (B? ch) with the meaning of ‘cypress’ and Li (Ly) with the meaning of ‘lily’ for children one family; countries — Nga (Nga) with the meaning of ‘Russia’ and Duc (? ?c) with the meaning of ‘Germany’; one letter of the alphabet — H-H?I, Hi?U, H?ng, H ?ng, HNg, Hoa, H o? i. Often the names of children of the same family form slogans:

- Binh (B?nh) + Tignes (T?nh) + Chien (Chi?n) + Dau (??u) = B?nh T?nh ? Chi?n?u meaning ‘Be yourself, fight with dignity’;

- Tank (B?C) + Nam (Nam) +Thong (Th?Ng) + Nyat (Nh?T) = B?C Nam Th?Ng Nh?T with the meaning ‘North and South are one’;

- Viet (Vi?T) + Nam (Nam) + Chien (Chi?N) + Thang (Th?Ng) = Vi?T Nam Chi?N Th?Ng with the meaning ‘Vietnam will win' ^[13].

In the Russian language , the main features of the anthroponymic complex are:

- its grammatical formality, in which, depending on the category of gender and number, anthroponyms have a inflectional function, for example:

Ivanov a Ann a Peter aries (inflection -a expresses such grammatical meaning as: feminine, singular, nominative case; suffixes -ov- i -n- mark the connection with the patronym); Ivanov Alexey Petrovich; Ivanov s (brother and sister); Petrovich I (brother and sister Ivanov);

Russian Russian nomenclature is formed from such sources as: ancient Greek (Alexey, Arseny, Athena, Agnia) and Roman (Evelina, Emilia, Mark, Felix) culture; Slavic culture (Svyatoslav, Vera, Lyubov) - a large number of sources of borrowing personal names, which is due to the inclusion of Russian linguoculture in the European tradition, thus, the Russian nomenclature is formed from such sources as: ancient Greek (Alexey, Arseny, Athena, Agnia) and Roman (Evelina, Emilia, Mark, Felix) culture; Slavic culture (Svyatoslav, Vera, Lyubov Lyudmila); biblical, first of all, Hebrew culture (Maria, Gabriel, Anna); Roman names (Natalia, Aurora, Venus, Roman); Germanic names (Adele, Alina, Albert, Amalia); Turkic names (Timur, Ruslana), etc.

Conclusion

Thus, the formal and substantive features of anthroponyms in the languages under consideration find many common features. What is common at the formal level is the unchanging structure of the official name, the fixed nature of the elements of the anthroponymic complex, the connection with the patronym, the inheritance of the surname from the father to the children, the lack of semantic formalization of the surname at the present time. Also common to the Vietnamese and Russian languages was the origin of the elements of the anthroponymic complex from the characteristics of a person by gender, character, appearance, profession. In the compared languages, borrowings are noted mainly at the level of the surname (Vietnamese) and the first name (Russian).

A characteristic aspect of Russian anthroponyms is the possibility of inversion use of elements of the anthroponymic complex, the format of which is assigned to a certain context/style. Russian names and surnames are characterized by a great variety in origin and semantics. The inflectional nature of the Russian language dictates the necessity of inflection of parts of the anthroponymic complex.

A feature of the Vietnamese language at the formal level is the importance of using a middle name, which serves to distinguish namesakes and partly indicate the gender of its bearer, as well as the need to preserve the full Vietnamese anthroponymic complex without rearranging its components when mentioned in official business and cited in scientific literature, which is a frequent error in the use of the Vietnamese anthropominic complex, for example, in Russian or English text.