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RELIEF PECULIARITIES OF TOPONYMIC NICKNAMES OF THE AMERICAN STATES // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2014. Issue 10 (151). P. 34-38

Toponymic nickname – is a new name based on the associations with reality phenomena. Wide use of secondary nominations is a characteristic feature of the toponymic system of the USA. Each state, apart from its official name, has a number of nicknames, which can be official and unofficial. This article is devoted to the linguocultural analysis of toponymic nicknames of the US States, motivational characteristics of which are relief and water resource peculiarities. This group of American nicknames is clearly restricted in the English language and presents an interesting material for the linguistic analysis. This article regards different classifications of the analyzed units as well as their motivational and quantitative analyses. Secondary nominations of the US States reflect the peculiarities of the flat, hilly and mountainous relief. The last one prevails over the flat and hilly relief. Water resources (among which the most productive motivation is rivers) occur more often than the objects of the area relief. One more particular feature of the units under the investigation is the fact that they are presented by the nominations with absolute or full motivating, since the facts, events and geographical names, put in the basis of the secondary nominations, are always evident.

Keywords: secondary nomination, toponymic nickname, toponym, relief, water resources, the US States