Research On Country Names In Latin America Based On FRMP Model

Place names are proper names for geographical entities with specific directions,and are the products of historical changes and human social interaction.Although countries are special geopolitical entities,their names also belong to the category of place names.The name of a country is not only a linguistic sign,but also an important symbol of the exercise of national sovereignty,which has a strong cohesive meaning and symbolic value for a nation.The history of Latin America has undergone dramatic changes since the discovery of the New World and place names here faithfully record the geographical discovery and colonial history.Thus the study of the cognitive mechanism and social factors behind its country names will help to understand the meaning of country names and trace the trajectory of political civilization and historical development in Latin America.Place names are not only the research object of toponymy,but also one of the important contents of linguistic research.Previous scholars have achieved rich research results from the perspectives of language,culture,naming patterns,translation and so forth.Firstly,these studies are mainly conducted from a synchronic perspective,focusing on the origin and formation of place names today,but the evolution of place names are not focused.Moreover,the social background of the generation and evolution of place names have not been thoroughly discussed,and the influence of social factors on place names has been ignored.Finally,previous studies mainly explores Latin America from the perspective of culture,politics,and economy,but lacks the research of its country names from the perspective of linguistics.In order to make up for the research gaps,this thesis builds a new model FRMP including frame theory,cognitive reference point,metonymy and prominence principle from the perspective of sociocognitive linguistics.The names of 33 countries in Latin America are the research objects,and synchronic and diachronic analysis of country names is carried out based on this model.Firstly,the thesis finds12 types of element combinations according to the origins of current country names and then explores the cognitive mechanism and social factors behind them under the FRMP model.It is found that figure,religion,time,plant,geomorphy,product,river,and place name are taken as prominent elements,which embodies the economic principle of language.Secondly,the analysis of its social background finds that the naming of countries is mainly influenced by colonial history,geographical discovery,and indigenous Indian culture.Finally,based on the FRMP model,this thesis explores the cognitive mechanism and social factors of the evolution of country names from a diachronic perspective,and finds that most Latin American countries change their original colonial names after independence,but a small number of them continue to use colonial names while most of the names given by navigators and the indigenous Indians have been preserved till today.