The quest for definitions

Auteurs

• Peter Jordan

Paramètres

• Manuels
• Manuels universitaires

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The topic of exonyms and the endonym/exonym divide garners significant interest and debate due to its political, sociological, and cultural implications. This divide arises when a geographical name reflects the relationship between a name-using community and the feature it denotes, raising questions of ownership—whether a place is 'ours' or 'theirs.' This issue is emotionally charged, as place names symbolize personal and group identities, making it more poignant than other aspects of toponymy, such as a name's etymology. The divide impacts relationships across various community levels, from nations to local groups, and even between neighbors. It taps into a fundamental human instinct to differentiate between what belongs to 'us' and 'them.' Additionally, historical events like population exchanges and shifts in political power can alter the status of names between endonyms and exonyms. The use of exonyms is often misinterpreted as a claim over geographical features, adding to the sensitivity of the issue. Since its inception in 2002, the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) has explored this divide, yet many questions remain unresolved, including the criteria for distinguishing between endonyms and exonyms and their relation to uninhabited features. This book presents recent findings from the Working Group's 14th Meeting in Corfu, offering a comprehensive overview of the ongoing debates surrounding t

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• Année de publication: 2014