Linguonym (from la, lingua / language, and gr, ὄνομα / name) also known as glossonym (from grc, γλῶσσα / language) or glottonym (from

Attic Greek Attic Greek is the Greek dialect of the ancient region of Attica, including the '' polis'' of Athens. Often called classical Greek, it was the prestige dialect of the Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that ...

: γλῶττα / language), is a

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

term that designates a

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

of an individual

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

, or a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...

. The study of language names is known as linguonymy (glossonymy, glottonymy), or linguonymics (glossonymics, glottonymics). As a distinctive linguistic discipline, linguonymic studies are closely related to some other

onomastic Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An '' orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, ...

disciplines, particularly those that are focused on the study of

ethnonyms An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and ...

(names of ethnic groups) and choronyms (names of regions and countries). In that context, the field is related to

ethnolinguistic Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is an area of anthropological linguistics that studies the relationship between a language and the nonlinguistic cultural behavior of the people who speak that language. __NOTOC__ Examples ...

and

sociolinguistic Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of l ...

studies. Various questions related to the study of formation and use of language names are also relevant for several other disciplines within

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

. The term ''linguonym'' was introduced to the linguistic terminology in the second half of the 20th century, first in 1973, and again in 1977, while further attempts to define the field were made in 1979. Three

synonymic A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

terms (linguonym, glossonym, glottonym) gradually came into use, primarily among linguists and other scholars, but the field of linguonymic studies itself is still considered to be in its formative stages.

Typology

Language names can be classified by several criteria. According to origin, they can be divided into two groups: * ''Endonymic language names'', known as endolinguonyms (autolinguonyms), endoglossonyms ( autoglossonyms) or endoglottonyms ( autoglottonyms) represent language names of

endonymic An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

(native) origin, created and used by native speakers as designations for their languages. For example, term ''Deutsch'' is an endolinguonym (native name) for the language that is called German in English. * ''Exonymic language names'', known as exolinguonyms (exoglossonyms/alloglossonyms, exoglottonyms/alloglottonyms) represent language names of

exonymic An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

(foreign) origin, created and used by those who are not native speakers of the referred languages. For example, term ''German'' is an exolinguonym (foreign name), used in English language as a designation for the language that is called ''Deutsch'' by its native speakers.

Related terms

In recent years, some authors have tried to introduce the term " logonym" as an alternative designation for the same

class, that encompasses the names of languages, thus avoiding the use of already accepted terms (linguonym, glossonym, glottonym), but those attempts were challenged by the very

polysemic Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a symbol, a morpheme, a word, or a phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several word senses. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word has a singl ...

nature of the proposed term ( logonym), that has several meanings, spanning across different fields of study. As a consequence, the proposed use was treated with caution, and did not gain acceptance. Searching for appropriate

terms for some other classes of

proper names A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa'', ''Jupiter'', ''Sarah'', ''Microsoft)'' as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, ...

, several researchers have tried to use term ''linguonym'' (glossonym, glottonym) as a designation not for the names of languages, but for a specific class of

anthroponyms Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...

(proper names of humans, individual and collective) that are given to the groups of speakers of any particular language. Some of those attempts were made as a result of misunderstanding, by referencing to official

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

documents, that used those terms in their proper meaning, as designations for language names, thus revealing the lack of bases for the proposed alternative uses. Other attempts were made without any referencing, or addressing the issue of the proper meanings and uses of the terms. In the same time, the question of defining an appropriate

anthroponomastic Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and c ...

term for the specific class of proper names that are given to groups of speakers of any particular language (names such as:

Anglophones Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...

/ speakers of English, or

Francophones French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the la ...

/ speakers of French), remained opened and focused on several available solutions that would combine classical terms for speakers or speaking (based on

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

verb loquor, loqui, locutus) with standard suffix

-onym The suffix ''-onym'' (from grc, ὄνυμα / name) is a bound morpheme, that is attached to the end of a root word, thus forming a new compound word that designates a particular ''class'' of names. In linguistic terminology, compound words t ...

, thus producing the term ''loquonym''. Such issues, related to proper formation and use of

terms, have gained importance in scholarly circles, since international surveys among experts revealed the existence of several challenging issues related to the process of terminological standardization within the field.

Typology

Related terms

See also

References

Sources

External links