A Master's Thesis Has No Name
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A Master’s Thesis Has No Name A study on personal names in fantasy literature Anja Moe Master’s Thesis in English Linguistics Department of Foreign Languages University of Bergen May 2019 Abstract in Norwegian Denne masteroppgåva handlar om personnamn i fantasy-seriane A Song of Ice and Fire av George R.R. Martin og The Stormlight Archive av Brandon Sanderson. Oppgåva sitt mål er undersøke korleis personnamna frå desse seriane er bygd opp, eller velt ut, samanlikna med korleis engelske personnamn generelt ser ut. I tillegg ser oppgåva på ulike motivasjonar for oppbygginga av binamn i seriane. Trass i at fantasy sjangeren er ein svært namnerik sjanger har den ofte blitt oversett og den har blitt via overraskande lite merksemd. Sjanger er særleg interessant å utforske med tanke på den store fridommen som forfattarane har når det gjeld å velje ut og finne opp namn. Kort oppsummert peikar oppgåva på ulike namnestrategiar som er nytta i seriane. Oppgåva ser òg på korleis kjønn er markert i namna og korleis ‘frammandheit’ er reflektert i namna. Felles for begge seriane er at namna har funksjonar utover rolla som identifiseringsmarkørar. Dei litterære personnamna reflekterer både karakterstikkar ved dei som berer namnet og plasserer namneberarane i dei ulike etniske gruppene som ein finn i seriane. Seriane er ellers ulike når det gjeld kva type namnestrategiar som er blitt brukt. Oppgåva ser òg på ulike motivasjonar som ligg bak namngjevinga. Funna dreiar seg hovudsakleg om at binamn ofte baserer seg på fysiske og mental trekk ved karakterane, i tillegg blir sosial funksjonar t.d. yrke eller sosial status, og situasjonsbestemte hendingar brukt som grunnlag for binamn. Oppgåva ser tilslutt kort på korleis identitet og namnegjeving heng tett saman og korleis endringa av namn som regel òg fører med seg endringar i personlegdom. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Jerzy N. Nykiel, who let me choose my own path in this project. I also want to thank my fellow students at the reading hall for the lunch breaks, laughs and quizzes. A special thank you to my fellow linguistics students, your support and feedback has been invaluable. In that regard I would especially like to mention Tonje and Inga Margrethe who has gone through the entire thing and provided much appreciated feedback. A special thanks to Studinekoret Kalliope, you are the reason Monday is my favorite day of the week. I also want to thank my family for always supporting me. Last but not least I want to extend my gratitude to ‘onsdagsklubben’, whose necessary insanity means everything to me. And of course, Glenn, my fellow geek and partner. iv Contents ABSTRACT IN NORWEGIAN ................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... IV CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................... V LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ VIII LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... IX 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim and scope ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Previous research .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research questions and hypotheses ............................................................................................... 3 1.4 Outline of thesis ............................................................................................................................ 4 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ....................................................................................... 5 2.1 General naming criteria ................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 Function of names and naming formation ............................................................................................ 5 2.2 Naming practices and types of name .............................................................................................. 7 2.2.1 First names ............................................................................................................................................ 8 2.2.2 Family names ......................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.3 Bynames .............................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3 The meaning of names ................................................................................................................ 12 2.4 Features of fantasy literature ....................................................................................................... 13 2.4.1 Types of fantasy ................................................................................................................................... 14 2.4.2 Stylistic features .................................................................................................................................. 14 v 3 DATA AND METHODOLOGY........................................................................................ 17 3.1 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 17 3.1.1 Defining the corpus ............................................................................................................................. 18 3.1.2 Literary onomastics ............................................................................................................................. 19 3.1.3 Categorization ..................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2 The source material ..................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 A Song of Ice and Fire .......................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.2 The Stormlight Archive ........................................................................................................................ 23 4 MEANS OF NAMING .................................................................................................. 25 4.1 Naming strategies in A Song of Ice and Fire .................................................................................. 25 4.1.1 Conventional names in a fantastic world ............................................................................................ 26 4.1.2 Tweaked names ................................................................................................................................... 29 4.1.3 Germanic compounding ...................................................................................................................... 31 4.1.4 Gender marking ................................................................................................................................... 32 4.2 The North ................................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 The Free Folk ....................................................................................................................................... 37 4.3 Dorne ......................................................................................................................................... 40 4.4 The South ................................................................................................................................... 41 4.4.1 The Iron Islands ................................................................................................................................... 45 4.5 Foreignness realized in names from ASOIAF ................................................................................. 46 4.5.1 The Free Cities ..................................................................................................................................... 47 4.5.2 Dothraki ............................................................................................................................................... 49 4.5.3 Ghiscar and The Summer Isles ............................................................................................................ 50 4.6 Naming strategies in The Stormlight Archive................................................................................. 52 4.6.1 Naming strategies in the central culture ............................................................................................. 53 4.6.2 Naming strategies in the foreign cultures ........................................................................................... 55 4.6.3 Foreignness