Dimenzionális szemlélet a névkutatásban

TAMÁS FARKAS, The dimensional approach in Onomastics. General questions and the example of family-name research An essential characteristic of natural and modern languages and language use is variability and changeability. These features are connected to the basic existential dimensions of human beings and languages. These dimensions are those of time (historicity), space (spatiality) and society (society and culture). Dimensional linguistics as an approach and research area, by considering and examining the above dimensions jointly, seeks to contribute to a better knowledge and understanding of several language phenomena. As a result of the fact that proper names, in comparison with common nouns, are strongly embedded in extralinguisitic reality, their examination should rely on this approach. This paper presents how typical it is to pay attention to the different dimensions in the analyses of the distinct types of names. The author explores the reasons for, the antecedents of, and the presence of this approach in Hungarian Onomastics, focusing on topics such as name history, name geography and socioonomastics as well as their connections and their possible dimensional linguistic examination. Examples are given from the earlier and contemporary literature in the field of Hungarian family-name research. The author argues that most questions in relation to Onomastics can only be discussed validly in the framework of macrolinguistics, using the methods of contextual linguistics.