Place names (toponyms) are proper nouns describing natural and cultural features of a landscape. They often become fossilized over time. The diachronic perspective offered by some place names allows to virtually reconstitute part of the natural and cultural elements of disappeared landscapes.
Toponymy also has a referential value, because it designates places and distinguishes them from other places.
Place names also have an identity value, since the inhabitants of a place feel affectionately linked to their living place and, therefore, to the place name defining their living place.
Toponymy is also an ideological science, because the political context determines the choice of one precise place name and not another plausible one.
Any scholar interested in toponymy from its landscape perspective; or from its referential aspect; or from its identity view; or from its ideological context are invited to participate in this session.

Joan Membrado (1)
(1) Universitat de València

 
ID Abstract: