Distinctive additions in the early 19 th century Hungarian settlement names

a cognitive linguistic approach

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide a cognitive linguistic interpretation of place names, focusing primarily on the process of differentiating identical settlement names by way of attaching distinctive additions to them. The author presents the possible sources of identical
settlement names in the Hungarian language, describes name differentiation as a means of re-establishing the identifying potential of malfunctioning polysemous habitation names and proposes a possible semantic categorisation of distinctive additions used in Hungarian settlement names in natural (i.e. non-official) naming practices using early 19 th century data.