The ergonyms of the big city (based on the names of shops in Kharkov)

The author of the article considers the features of ergonyms of a large Ukrainian city. The object of scientific analysis is the names of Kharkov shops in the 1960-2010s. The article analyzes the positive and negative phenomena in the ergonymy of Kharkov. Kharkov ergonyms are divided into types: realistic, advertising, informational and symbolic. The main features of Kharkov ergonyms are clarified. The linguistic feature of the Kharkov ergonyms of the 1960‒1990s was the predominance of store names in Russian (98%) over Ukrainian (2%), which was facilitated by the state course to satisfy consumer needs. In the 1991‒2010s, the percentage of Russian-language names remained significant and ranged from 30% to 40%. The text of the article indicates the causes of this phenomenon. The negative phenomena of Kharkov ergonymy include the unprofessional approach of nominators in creating ergonyms. The article explores the main ways of creating ergonyms: onimization of the appellative, transonymization of onym and onimotransomination, thematic groups of vocabulary used to create store names, the specific activity of each of the ways to create this class of names are considered. 78% of Kharkov ergonyms were created by onimization of the appellative, 20% ‒ transonymization, 2% ‒ onimotransonimization. The number of ergonyms created by the method of onimotransonimization is gradually increasing. The increase in the number of these ergonyms depends on the motivation of the store’s name by economic factors in the conditions of competition between owners of such establishments. According to the researcher, onimotransonimization will positively affect not only the creation of new ergonyms, but also the general culture of the Ukrainian language in Kharkov. The author of the article considers a comparative analysis of ergonyms of modern Ukrainian million-plus cities to be the direction of further studies of the ergonymy of a large Ukrainian city.