Culture Dependent Toponym Types (The Concept of SETTLEMENT in Different Cultures) [Kultúrafüggő helynévtípusok. A TELEPÜLÉS fogalma különböző kultúrákban]

This paper argues for the views that (i) toponyms constitute cultural values; (ii) characteristic habitation names taken from genetically unrelated languages, when examined in the framework of cognitive linguistics, can reveal the concept of SETTLEMENT evolved by people belonging to different cultures; and (iii) human conceptualization of such entities as settlements is as much culture-specific as universal. The concept of SETTLEMENT encoded in the observed name forms has been detected to comprise (presumably) universal domains (highlighting mostly central, often spatial features of habitations, e.g. type, size, shape, age, position); culture-specific domains (highlighting various peripheral features of habitations, e.g. religion, market, event); and unique domains (highlighting some, usually abstract peripheral features of habitations, e.g. lifestyle, individual ownership, military success, commemoration of royalties, erudition). Cognitive linguistic approach adopted in the paper helps to collect which distinct aspects of human culture are reflected in the conventionalised settlement name forms of different languages, promotes to identify the boundaries of cultural regions and explains why toponyms are so highly sensitive to cultural changes