Toponimizacija latvių kalboje
Toponymization in the Latvian Language

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with grammaticalization processes in the Latvian toponymy and tries to find differences in the derivation of toponymy and common vocabulary. Three types (primary, secondary and compounding toponymization) and six stages of toponymization (extension or the use of a word in new extensions, transcategorization or the change of category, decategorization or the loss of some categorical components, desemanticization or the loss or change of semes in the semantic field of a place name, clitization or merging of two words into one, erosion or the loss of phonetic substance, epexegeticalization or the acquisition of a new morphological or semantic extension in order to explain the place name) were observed. Two stages of desemanticization – partial and complete – have been distinguished.

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