Исследовательская работа "Прозвища в школьной среде"
материал по английскому языку (8 класс)

Municipal budgerary general establishment

«Secondary school №22»

School nicknames

Research work

                                          Made by Julietta Matevosyan

                                                                School 22

                                                                Grade 8

                                                                Scientific support: Nataly Burashnikova,

                       English teacher,

              School 22

Oktyabrskiy

2011

CONTENT

Introduction

• Etimology
• Conventions in various languages
• Uses in various societies
• Computing
• Nicknames for people
• Abbreviation or modification
• Relationship
• Questionnaire
• The results of questionnaire

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

                                                                           "A nickname is the heaviest stone                                                                                                                            that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it  haunts our apprehensions."  

                                                                                               William Hazlitt

          Our nicknames are usually given to us by the people surrounding us, and a person can have more than one nickname, depending on the number of his or her social circles. Sometimes people are "stuck" with nicknames which were given to them by others, and which cause them to feel uncomfortable. Nicknames might even affect their own self-image and the way they are seen by others. Less frequently and usually within social frames which manifest some degree of playfulness, a person will choose his own nick. A self- chosen nick will augment a person's self-image. That nick will not necessarily reflect personality traits or characteristics, or a person's external appearance, but might also mirror that person's aspirations or dreams.

          Our nicknames can remain with us throughout our lives, or disappear with time, or when a change occurs in our lives. Sometimes we attempt to slough off our childhood nicknames when we grow up.

         The subject of school nicknames could be a rich field of study in itself.  School nicknames can be of many kinds.  They could originate in physical attributes.  

         So, the object of the investigation is school nicknames.

         The aim of my work is to reveal the origin of nicknames in school atmosphere, compare girls’ and boys’ nicknames.

         The achievement of aim is going through solving following tasks:

1. Studying an extra literature in onomastics and anthroponomy.
2. Investigating reasons of appearing these nicknames.

Onomastics is a part of  linguistics, that studies proper names, their history and origin. And anthroponomy is a part of onomastics studying names and their evolution. For example, it may be a proper name, surname or pseudonym or nickname.

UNIT 1. ETIMOLOGY

     A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name,which may sometimes be used simply for convenience (e.g. "Bobby", "Bob", "Rob", or "Bert" for the name Robert). The term hypocoristic is used to refer to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment. The term diminutive name refers to nicknames that convey smallness, hence something regarded with affection or familiarity (e.g., referring to children,) or contempt. The distinction between the two is often blurred. It is a way to tell someone they are special and that you love them. It is a form of endearment and amusement. As a concept, it is distinct from both pseudonym and stage name, and also from a title (for example, City of Fountains), although there may be overlap in these concepts.

     The compound word ekename, literally meaning "additional name", was attested as late as 1303. This word was derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase", related to eacian "to increase". By the fifteenth century, the misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "an ekename" led to its reanalysis as "a nekename". Though the spelling has changed, the pronunciation and meaning of the word have remained relatively stable ever since.

Abbreviation or modification

     A nickname can be a shortened or modified variation on a person's real name.

Contractions of longer names: Margaret to Greta. With many nicknames a letter, usually R, is dropped: Fanny from Francis, Walt from Walter. During the middle ages, the letter R would often be swapped for either L or D: Hal from Harry, Molly from Mary, and Sadie from Sarah.

     In the 19th century, frontier America, Mary and Molly were often given the nickname Polly. Letter swapping for nicknames is common, usually the letter R for another letter: from Robert: Hob, Dob, Rob, Bob and Nob, from Richard: Rick, Dick, and Hick; Bill from Will (which in turn comes from William), and Peg from Meg (which is derived from Margaret).

     Sometimes a nickname can come from the front: Chris from Christopher/Christine, Ed from Edward/Edmond/Edgar/Edwin, Iz or Izzy from Isaac/Isaiah/Isidore/Izale/Isabel/Isabella, Joe from Joseph/Josephine/Joanna, Marge from Margaret, Nick from Nicholas, Peg from Peggy, Sam from Samuel/Samantha/Samson. The back of the name: Drew from Andrew, Xander from Alexander, Eth from Kenneth, Topher from Christopher. Or from the middle: Liz from Elizabeth or Del/Della from Adelaide.

     Before the 17th century, most nicknames had the diminutive ending "in" or "Kin", where the ending is attached to the first syllable: Watkin/Walter/Wat-kin Hobkin/Robert/Hob-kin or Thompkin/Thomas/Thom-Kin. While most of these have died away, a few remain such as Robin (Rob-in, from Robert), Hank (Hen-Kin from Henry), Jack (Jan-kin from John), and Colin (Col-in from Nicolas).

     Many nicknames usually drop the final one or two letters and add ether ie/ee/y as an ending: Davy from David, Charlie from Charles, and Jimmy from James. In some cases, another name may be used as a nickname. For example, on the television show Dead Like Me the main character was called George, which was short for Georgia. Initialization, which forms a nickname from a person's initials: A.C. Slater from Albert Clifford Slater

     Nicknames are sometimes based on a person's last name ("Tommo" for Bill Thompson) or a combination of first and last name ("Droopy" for Andrew Peterson, or "A-Rod" for Alex Rodriguez). Loose ties to a person's name with an attached suffix: Gazza for English footballer Paul Gascoigne (though used more widely in Australia for Gary) and similar "zza" forms (Hezza, Prezza, etc.) for other prominent personalities whose activities are frequently reported in the British press.

Conventions in various languages

To inform an audience or readership of a person's nickname without actually calling them by their nickname, English nicknames are generally represented in quotes between the bearer's first and last names (e.g., Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Daniel Lamont "Bubba" Franks, etc.). The middle name is generally eliminated (if there is one), especially in speech. Like English, German uses (German-style) quotation marks between the first and last names (e.g., Andreas Nikolaus „Niki“ Lauda). Other languages may use other

conventions; for example, Italian writes the nickname after the full name followed by detto 'called' (e.g., Salvatore Schillaci detto Totò), and Slovenian represents nicknames after a dash or hyphen (e.g., Franc Rozman – Stane). The latter may cause confusion because it resembles an English convention sometimes used for married and maiden names.

Uses in various societies

     In Viking societies, many people had nicknames heiti, viðrnefni, or uppnefni which were used in addition to, or instead of their family names. In some circumstances the giving of a nickname had a special status in Viking society in that it created a relationship between the name maker and the recipient of the nickname, to the extent that the creation of a nickname also often entailed a formal ceremony and an exchange of gifts.

     Slaves have often used nicknames, so that the master who heard about someone doing something could not identify the slave. In capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, the slaves had nicknames to protect them from being caught, as practicing capoeira was illegal for decades.

     In Anglo-American culture, a nickname is often based on a shortening of a person's proper name, a diminutive. However, in other societies, this may not necessarily the case.

     In Indian society, for example, generally people have at least one nickname (call name or affection name) and these affection names are generally not related to the person's proper name. Indian nicknames very often are a trivial word or a diminutive (such as Bablu, Dabbu, Banti, Babli, Gudiya, Golu, Sonu, Chhotu, Raju, Adi, Ritu, etc.).

     In Australian society, typical Australian men will give nicknames that may be ironic. For example, a man with red hair will get the nickname 'Bluey'.

     In Japanese culture, Japanese honorifics are designed so that a term of endearment conveys the exact status of the relationship between two people. However, the recipient of the honorific is allowed to restrict the use when used by a certain person.

     Nicknames are usually awarded to, not chosen by the recipient. For example, to differentiate two tennis partners with the same name from each other, the more junior tennis buddy may be given a differentiated name or "nickname". This is and never will be able to be chosen or even debated by the recipient. It simply is allocated. Paul number two in a team may be designated a name starting with the first letter of his surname. E.G.: Paul Haworth may be designated "Harry" and so on. It is a differentiator and not a statement.

UNIT 2. Concealment of identity

     Many writers, performing artists, and actors have nicknames, which may develop into a stage name or pseudonym. A bardic name may also result from a nickname. Many writers have pen names which they use instead of their real names. A pen name is a pseudonym adopted by authors or their publishers, often to conceal their identity. One famous example of this is Samuel Clemens' writing under the pen name Mark Twain. Lemony Snicket is another example of a pseudonym used by an author who wanted to hide his identity. A pen name may be used if a writer's real name is likely to be confused with the name of another writer or notable individual, or if their real name is deemed to be unsuitable. Authors who write in fiction and non-fiction, or in different genres, may use pen names to avoid confusing their readers, as in the case of mathematician Charles Dodgson, who wrote fantasy novels under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

     The Bronte family used pseudonyms for their early work, so residents in local communities didn't know their works related to the neighborhood people. The Brontes used their neighbours as inspiration for characters in many of their books. Anne Bronte published her poem "The Narrow Way" under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Charlotte Bronte published Shirley and Jane Eyre under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Emily Bronte published Wuthering Heights under Ellis Bell.

     Some female authors used male pen names, particularly in the 19th century, when writing was a male-dominated profession. The reverse example is that of male romance novelists using female pen names. A well-known example of the former is Mary Ann Evans, who wrote as George Eliot. One of Evans' most acclaimed novels is Adam Bede, which was published in 1859. Another example is Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, a 19th-century French writer who used the pen name George Sand. Jane Austen used the pseudonym "A Lady" as the author of her first novel Sense and Sensibility. Elisabeth Evermarie Sarai went by Elisheva (Hebrew for Elizabeth) Evermaire for her novel Sarai.

     The authors C. L. Moore and S.E. Hinton were female authors who used abbreviated forms of their full names in order to disguise their gender and attract various types of readers, without creating expectations about the content of their work due to some readers' gender-related stereotypes. However, these names are not pseudonyms, as they are simply the initialized versions of the authors' actual names. C.L. Moore was Catherine Lucille Moore, who wrote in the 1930s male-dominated science fiction genre as C. L. Moore, and S.E. Hinton, (author of The Outsiders) is Susan E. Hinton. A more recent example would be J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

     A pseudonym may also be used to hide the identity of the author, as in the case of exposé books about espionage or crime, or explicit erotic fiction. Some prolific authors adopt a pseudonym to disguise the extent of their published output, e.g., Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman.

Relationship

     They may refer to the relationship with the person. This is a term of endearment. To avoid confusion between peer groups with the same given names, surnames may be used. A nickname can be used to distinguish members of the same family sharing the same name from one another. This has several common patterns among sons named for fathers:

The first bearer of the name can be referred to as Senior, Daddy or have "Big", or "Older" placed in front of his given name, as in "Big Pete", or "Older Pete".

A son named after his father (but not after his grandfather) is often referred to as Junior, Chip (also a diminutive of Charles, but in this case in reference to "a chip off the old block"), Skip, Sonny, or Deuce. Skip can also refer to a man named after his paternal grandfather, implying that the name "skipped" a generation. Another common, but much less popular nickname for a son named after his father is having "Little" placed in front of his name, as in "Little Pete", though this tends to be avoided if possible (especially if the son happens to become physically bigger than the father he's named after, and/or when the son becomes a full grown adult, regardless of if he does, or doesn't physically outgrow the father he shares a name with), due to its unpopularity with most sons who share the same name with their fathers. Likewise, a similar, and more acceptable form of this kind of nickname is to have "Younger" placed in front of the son's name instead, as in "Younger Pete".

The third generation carrying a name (usually with III after his name) is often referred to as Trey, Tripp, or Trip (from Triple). Skip also is a frequently used nickname for "thirds" because they "skipped" being a "Junior".

The fourth generation carrying a name (usually with IV after his name) may be referred to as Ivy, (as in IV) Quad, Quadry, or Dru (from Quadruple).

The fifth generation carrying a name (usually with V after his name) may be referred to as Quint, Quince, Quincy, or Quinton (from Quintuple).

Various attributes

     Nicknames may be based on various attributes. They may refer to a person's job or title."Bones" for a forensic scientist, surgeon, or mortician. "Doc" for a doctor. "Sparky" for an electrician. Moneybags for a wealthy person. "Four-eyes" for a person with glasses. "Train tracks", "tin teeth", "motormouth", or "braceface" for a person with braces, such as Sharon Spitz on the animated series Braceface. "Fatso" for a person who is overweight. It should be noted that in English such nicknames are often considered offensive or derogatory, unless the nickname is based on a trait that is viewed positively. All of the above examples would be offensive in most contexts.

     Sometimes an adjective can become a nickname for a member of a social group that shares a given name with another member of the same group.

In a department with two professors with the initial and last name Liu, they may be referred to as "Important Liu" and "Adjunct Liu".

     In the context of information technology, a nickname (or technically a nick) is a common synonym for the screenname or handle of a user.

      Nickname is a name to shorten a name. Nick is a term originally used to identify a person in a system for synchronous conferencing. In computer networks it has become a common practice for every person to also have one or more nicknames for the purposes of anonymity, to avoid ambiguity or simply because the natural name or technical address would be too long to type or take too much space on the screen.

     Мany years ago Russian people  did  not call their real names, they had another names. They thought that if a man or a woman spelled their name with malicious intention, it may be caused for some decease or even death.  

As a result of it two names were appeared. A real name had been keeping in a secret. Only relatives knew about it. And people thought  nicknames. If a child was born he was given a name, that protected him from different angry spirits. These names were formed by negative semantics or negative prefixes.

Questionnaire:

     During my investigation I tested pupils  of the 4,8 and 10 grades. The following questions were asked:

1. Do you have a nickname?

2. How was it formed?

  а) by your name

  b) by appearance

  c) by character

  d) by your favourite word

  e) by funny situation

3. Do you like your nickname?

The results of my questionnaire:

       Well, after analyzing the results, I came to conclusion that almost every pupil from these classes has a nickname.

I  tested 64 pupils. 22 pupils named their nicknames by themselves. 20 pupils did not name their nicks, but their mates named them.

I was surprised that children of the 8th forms had the most nicknames:

5 pupils in my class have nicknames by their names:

          For example:

          Venera-Vinny

          Alsu- Alsy

          Albina-Alby

          Andrei-Andrew

          Julietta-Lulie

There are also nicknames  that associate with appearance:

          Frankenshtein - he is a tall boy with a big forehead (форид)

          Jecky Chun -  he behaves like Jecky Chun

          Brain - it is a clever person,

          Stupid - it is a fool  person

          Clown - he behaves like a clown

Einstein, referring to the famous physicist.

Sherlock, in reference to A. C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

Conclusion

     So, I have made up my mind that practically every boy and girl prefer their names to nicknames, only 11% of all pupils like their nicknames. And I want to add that this item attracts a lot of discussions. Nicknames were, they exist and they will be.

          As for me I am against it, especially if they are offensive.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. http://www.answers.com/topic/pseudonymity#ixzz1De7J2GVE
2. http//www.answers.com/topic/nickname#ixzz1De8GMhn6