Linguistic mythologems in the mirror of toponymy of the Rostov region

Kravchenko Mikhail Alexandrovich, Kravchenko Oksana Viktorovna

The purpose of the research is to study the representations and images of language formed by the ordinary metalanguage consciousness of native speakers. The material for the study was metalanguage statements (reflexives), which contain semantic evaluation and interpretation (including elements of folk etymology) of lexemes belonging to the thematic group of toponyms of the Rostov region. Among the lexemes of this thematic group, the main attention is paid to the study of oikonyms. The analysis of the manifestations of metalanguage reflection of native speakers shows that linguistic myths, classified as mythologems based on the allocation of a semantic feature, according to which the etymology of a toponym is determined, act as a kind of markers of metalanguage activity carried out by ordinary metalanguage consciousness.

Keywords:metalanguage reflection, mythologems, toponyms, oikonyms, reflexives.