THE POWER OF NAMES

TOK - LANGUAGE

THIS LESSON CONSIDERS EXAMPLES OF NAMES OF PLACES AND PEOPLE IN

ORDER TO SHOW HOW THE ‘WORD AS LABEL’ MODEL IS INADEQUATE –

HOW EVEN APPARENTLY SIMPLE NAMES EMBODY WHOLE RANGES OF

CONNOTATION, ABSTRACTION AND GENERALISATION.

AIMS

• To illustrate the nature and power of names in language and their levels of meaning

• To consider the cultural and historical aspect of language

How do we know …that a name actually refers to a certain thing (or set of things) and how exactly does it ‘bite on to’ that thing so that it is possible for us to know what objects someone is talking about when they use a given word, like ‘pen’ ….?

Denying Existence

When you say something like ‘There is no such thing as the Loch Ness monster or Santa Claus’, since you must refer to it or think about it in order to deny it, does it not then in some way become a thing? Meinong argued that if we say there is no such thing as a golden mountain, then there is something to which we do refer. One can even make true or false statements regarding this thing; for example, it would be true to say that “it” is golden and false that “it” is silver.

Referential Opacity.

There are certain situations when you cannot substitute one name for another name, or one description for another description, even though you would think that you should be able to because they refer to the same thing. Here is an example where propositions 1 and 2 are true, but 3 is false:

1. Oedipus wanted to marry Jocasta.2. Jocasta was Oedipus’ mother.3. Oedipus wanted to marry his mother

1554 map of Africa

?If names of countries are just convenient ways of referring to a geographical area, then why have names changed?

How are history and language intertwined?

• Rhodesia – Zimbabwe• Upper Volta – Burkina Faso• Gold Coast – Ghana• Nyasaland – Malawi• Dahomey - Benin

• EthiopiaAbyssinia• Ankara, Turkey Angora, Turkey• Czech Republic and Slovakia Bohemia,

Moravia, Chechoslovakia• Sri LankaCeylon• Istanbul, Turkey Constantinople, Turkey• Beijing, China Peking, China• IranPersia• IraqMesopotamia• ZimbabweSouthern Rhodesia• ZambiaNorthern Rhodesia• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Saigon, South

Vietnam• St. Petersburg, Russia Petrograd and

Leningrad, Russia• ThailandSiam• TanzaniaTanganyika and Zanzibar, German Eas

t Africa• Democratic Republic of Congo Zaire• NamibiaSouth-West Africa• MoldovaMoldavia• Burkina FasoUpper Volta

• LibyaTripolitania and Cyrenaica• AlgeriaNumidia• MaliSudanese Republic• FranceGaul• Central African Republic, Chad French

Equatorial Africa• Rwanda and Burundi German East Africa• China (north)Cathay• China (south)Mangi• VietnamCochin-China (south), Annam (central

), Tonkin (north)• MyanmarBurma• Tokyo, Japan Edo• Korea (North and South) Choson• CambodiaKampuchea• TaiwanFormosa

• Read more: Former Place Names of Countries and Cities | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932894.html#ixzz2dgqormGC

Derivations

• Liberia meaning freedom• Sierra Leone meaning land of lions• Tanzania is a combination of

Tanganyika and Zanzibar

What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet…

JULIET has not seen Romeo and is talking to herself

JULIET O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. ...

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, Nor arm nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.

ROMEO I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptised; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

What’s in a name?

• In Africa, biblical names such as Solomon, Moses and Emanuel are very common

• In Latin America, Jesus, Maria and Angelo are often chosen

• The Akan tribe in Africa name their child corresponding to the day of the week it is born

• In Germany there is an official list of names from which the name of a baby must be chosen

?

Different countries employ different names.

To what extent do they correspond to one another in meaning?

Think about….

• Why is Shakespeare’s Macbeth sometimes called the Scottish play?

• There is an Akan taboo which proscribes the mention of the word ‘snake’ after dark. People may refer to it as something else…What can be learned from this? Is there a relationship between a word and the thing that it denotes?

• In many languages (including Akan), only a certain number of colours have names. What might these differences mean?

Your name

To what extent is a personal name a reflection of religion, social class, nationality?

Personal names go in and out of fashion. How (if at all), can this then be related to meaning? How are language and taste related?

Names refer to people and places but they also refer to images of these people and places…What are the different levels of meaning in names?

Your own name• Produce a quick poster showing the names you are called and what meanings they have for

you, for the people around you, and in wider society. Think about your first name(s) and your family name, your nicknames now and in the past, the names you use for your email address and your instant messaging identity, etc. Why do you have these names? How did you get them? What do they mean? Do they have a cultural or religious significance? Who understands their meanings? Are your names common or rare? Do they have a long history or are they new names?

• To inform your work, do some research into your names, using these or any other resources:

• David Crystal’s Encyclopedia of Language pp112-113• David Crystal’s Encyclopedia of the English Language pp148-153• http://www.behindthename.com/• http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=184• Go to http://languagelegend.blogspot.com, type “names” into the site search engine and

see what comes up

• Display your work and compare with other students’. What similarities and differences do you observe?