The Process of Properization of Animal Common Nouns in Persian; A Study in the Framework of Cognitive Onomastics

The aim of this paper is investigating the process of applying animal common nouns as human proper names from a cognitive perspective. The theoretical framework of the study is adapted from Barcelona's (2003) ideas on constructing the figurative meaning of proper names of paragons, and the class-inclusion model of conceptual metaphor comprehension of Glucksberg and Keysar (1990). In this framework, applying the conceptual metaphor and metonymy tiers results in the emergence of the salient characteristic of the animal, forming a common class including the animal and the persons endowed with the salient characteristic, considering the animal noun as the prototype of the class, and the figurative use of the animal noun instead of proper human name, respectively. Sometimes, issues like the positive connotation of the salient characteristic, the morphological structure of the animal noun and the cultural beliefs about the animal cause the other individulas who are devoid of the salient characteristic to join the class. This results in fading away and erosion of the salient common characteristic. The erosion, finally, results in the properization of animal common noun to be used as an anthroponym. The successive application and interaction of the conceptual metaphor and metonyms indicate the metaphtonymy at work in this process.