Cognitivism as a Method of Interpreting Anthroponyms

Abstract

Selected assumptions of cognitive methodology were used in various works for anthroponymy analysis. This methodology, which is a research perspective, does not constitute a coherent theory. In order to determine the importance of onyms, the basic theses of the aforementioned methodology, i.e. the thesis of embodied cognition, the thesis of constructing meaning as conceptualization and the thesis of symbolization were applied. Determining the importance of anthroponyms was the basis for this deep analysis with the use of cognitive concepts such as: a symbolic unit or symbolic expression, habituation, a metaphor, and conceptual metonymy, schematization, a conceptual category, a standard version of the category concept, prototype or family similarity theory. This methodological approach allowed the author to study homonymy and anthroponymic polysemy. Cognitivism is a methodology that allows for a more in depth research in the field of onomastics, which has been demonstrated on the basis of anthroponymic analysis.