A Community Based Study of Married Women's Naming Practices: Norms and Traditions, Individual Identity, and Meaning

212 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2001.My research provided two main findings. First, while all participants in the study changed their names in form, there was resistance to the predetermined meaning of the practice of patronymy across all categories of analysis---norms and traditions; individual identity; and meaning. The second main finding presented an organic model of the interrelationships among linguistic practice; meaning; and individual identity. As opposed to a monolithic model that assumes a one-to-one correlation between patronymy and a singular meaning representing a monolithic group of women, an organic model acknowledges that the meanings proscribed to this practice vary, which in turn affords a multiplicity of identities women can inhabit.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD