Toponymic Image-Building for Urban Locations

Abstract

The paper looks into the specifics of urban place naming from the perspective of modern territory marketing and branding. Regarding the image of a place as a strategy, the author postulates the importance of toponymic image-building for the market economy and transformation of the socio-cultural milieu. The study focuses on the cases of urban naming aimed at managing the perception of spatial objects and supported through their specific media representation. Most of these place names belong to Ekaterinburg, although some references to other cities are made as well. The originality of the proposed research consists in using discourse analysis to explain the image-building capacities of place naming that relate both to the name choice and to the semiotics of the material landscape, as well as to the intents and purposes of stakeholders involved in the promotion process. Toponymic image-building techniques are commonly used for positioning and promotion of residential real estate, prestigious business facilities, leisure and sports grounds. This enables the author to outline the naming techniques associated with different spheres of social relations. It is noted that toponymic image-building is another means of commodification of urban space, which is not limited to the cost component as such but also adds to the social value of the urban landscape. The conditional-symbolic principle of naming proves to be increasingly productive, which, according to the author, attests to the growing popularity of individualising components in ergonymic and toponymic naming. The research outcomes, covering both linguistic and general semiotic aspects of toponymic image-building, can contribute to solving problematic issues of applied toponymy and the development of urban toponymic policy.