Annotations

The topic of the thesis is the etymological analysis of a specific lexical-semantic group in Slovak (with regard to the contemporary standard language, Older Slovak, and Slovak dialects). The objective is a complex etymological interpretation of the relevant Slovak lexicon based on the standard methods and procedures which are used in contemporary etymological research.

The topic is interdisciplinary, therefore historical knowledge and orientation in Latin, Hungarian and German are welcome. Oikonymic records (including possibly extinct names) from a particular region from the earliest times to the present will be analysed and classified according to the method of small types in order to reveal the relationships between name structures, their temporal layers and areal distribution, and to reconstruct the settlement process. The origin and motivation of the names will also be explained.

The development of urbanonymy and its linguistic analysis

The aim is to describe the dynamics and evolution of street names of medium and large-sized cities. The basis will be lexico-semantic and word-formation classifications. The development of urbanonymy will be analysed in stages defined by important milestones in the development of the city and the whole society. Changes in the use of motivational categories and word-formation processes will be illustrated by diagrams. The dissertation will include a list of contemporary urbanonyms with their explanation, the time of their origin and previous names of the locality in question.

Exonyms in Slovak

The work will focus on the research on Slovak exonyms (domestic forms of foreign geographical names) regarding their historical and cultural background, current usage (especially in relation to original forms of geographical names – endonyms), and graphic (in)consistency, based on cartographic, literary, media and journalistic sources. The aim is to analyse exonyms from a functional approach, reflecting language needs and the functioning of exonyms in communication.

Language Changes in the Development of Slovak from the Perspective of Historical and Variational Sociolinguistics

The subject of the thesis is selected phenomena from the historical development of the Slovak language (its historical (cultural) or regional (dialectal) varieties), the description and subsequent interpretation of which will be based on the concept of linguistic change as a gradual and complex process conditioned by intra-linguistic relations and extra-linguistic factors. The aim is to contribute to the knowledge of the process of language change on the basis of the research of linguistic variation and its variability over time and in communication. The choice of specific change cases, historical period or regional dialect will be specified after mutual consultation with the candidate. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources and/or field research in the selected region.

The subject of the dissertation is the research of the status and functioning of selected foreign languages, which were used as cultural languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, and how their status and function have changed in the course of the historical development of the linguistic situation up to today. The aim of the thesis is to extend the existing knowledge about the functioning of foreign languages in the territory of present-day Slovakia, which mostly concerns language contacts, spheres of foreign language use and language interference (e.g. borrowings from these languages into Slovak), by interpretation from the perspective of the theory of language planning (especially in terms of status and its dynamics against the background of the social situation) and by research into attitudes towards these languages. The choice of the specific language(s) and the historical period will be specified after consultation with the candidate, or in the first year of study. Basic research will include archival research of historical sources, official documents and contemporary periodicals.

The development of Slovak legal terminology and pursuit of its unification after 1843

The work will be focused on the analysis of data from the 19th century legislative texts in form of a specialised corpus aiming to identify the extent of potential continuity of the use of legal terms in the second half of the 19th century in comparison with the processed legal lexicon in older lexicographic works and also in the framework of the contemporary legal context. The work will also include comparative analyses of selected semantic probes into legal terminology extracted from 19th century legislative texts with dictionaries of legal terminology published at the beginning of the 20th century.