Linguistic definition of the proper noun

U članku se raščlanjuju znanstveni pogledi na sintaktičku funkciju sastavnica I1 i I2 u imeničkim frazama koje su sastavljene od dviju imenica u nominativu (tip I1 + I2) u gramatikama slavenskih jezika i daje se sintaktička definicija procesa onimizacije.The article analyzes scholarly views of the syntactic function of the two components, N1 and N2, in noun phrases consisting of two nouns in the nominative case (type N1 + N2) in grammars of Slavic languages (Slovene, Croatian, Czech, Polish, and Russian); in particular, it scrutinizes the function of Nx in phrases in which N1 is a common noun and N2 a proper noun (type reka Sava \u27the river Sava’). Proceeding from Smilauer’s (UT 161) definition that the meaning (i. e., the onomastic or functional meaning) of a proper noun is identical with the object named (in size, extent, characteristics, etc.), it is argued that the function of the common-name component N v optional in the (surface) syntactic structure (cf. reka Sava and Sava), is to make the functional meaning of the proper-name component N2 explicit classwise (cf. reka Krka ‘the river Krka’ vs. vas Krka The village (of) Krka’). A common noun + proper noun phrase (such as, in Sin., reka Sava) should thus be seen as the o n o m a s t i c m o d e l o f a p r o p e r n o u n . It is the analysis of the syntactic relationship between N1 and N2 in the onomastic model of the proper noun that offers insight into the process of onymization: it sheds light on what the transition of common nouns (nomina appellativa) to proper nouns (nomina propria) means from the linguistic point of view. If semantically onymization is a noun’s transition from beinig a means of designating a class to being a means of designating a particular and, conversely, appellativization is a noun’s transition from being a means of designating a particular to being a means of designating a class, then sytactically onymization is a noun’s transition from its primary function (i. e., of a syntactic head H) to its exclusively secondary function (i. e., of a modifier M), which can also be expressed by the following formula of onymization: common noun > proper noun = function H > function M