English anthroponyms: their features and usage as a linguistic resource

Abstract

The article touches upon the teaching a foreign language in secondary schools is a communicative orientation. Knowledge gained in the course of acquaintance with such a narrow topic as “anthroponyms in English” contributes to a more conscious approach to the process of learning English and can help the student to be more interested in the work process. As it is known, anthroponyms have a special place in any culture, including English, so it is imperative to know their use in speech, since it is difficult to imagine communication without proper names. At present, it can be stated that anthroponymics has an interdisciplinary nature, since it unites not only linguistic paradigms, but also a number of other areas of science: cultural studies, history, ethnography, sociology, psychology, and others. This factor is due to the specify of this linguistic concept from the grammatical, semantic, historical, cultural and psychological points of view. This article examines the concept of anthroponym and its main characteristics. In this regard, the use of anthroponyms in classrooms allows not only to motivate students to the language, but also to learn the culture of native speakers. Consequently, anthroponyms are one of the most significant linguistic resources for the development of educational assignments, scientific projects on various linguistic topics of mastering the English language. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its results can be applicable both in the practice of using English anthroponymic dictionaries and in their compilation.