Functional and Semantic Features of the Background Onyms in Ivan Bahrianyi's Novel "Tiger Hunters"

Abstract

This articleexamines functional-semantic loading of the background onyms, which saturate the artistic space of Ivan Bahrianyi’s novel “Tiger Hunters”. Among them, there is a variety of anthroponyms (proper names of historical figures, writers, artists, scientists, researchers, literary characters, etc.), theonyms, ethnonyms, georonyms (names of Christian holidays), mythonyms, chrematonyms (names of material objects), zoonyms (names of animals), ergonyms (names of associations of people based on various characteristics), chrononyms (names of periods of time, historical events), etc.

The study has revealed that the background onymic space of the novel is filled with important qualitatively and quantitatively rich vocabulary. All the onyms act as a linguistic expression of the writer's picture of the world, as they bring certain extra information into the text which often helps to interpret important events. They often participate in the creation of text and artistic images and contribute to the realization of an ideological and thematic idea. Background onyms convey the flavor of a certain era, succinctly describe events, create conditions for appropriate associations, and convey impressions and emotions of the author himself. Together with the apt verbal environment, they create a colorful onymic space of the work and fill the text with the content corresponding to the author's intention. These lexical units testify to the individual unique style of the writer and his special author's worldview.