Plant Names in Constructed Worlds

This study investigates the extent to which plant names, coined within the context of fictional world-building, reflect the morphosyntactic and semantic-motivational structures characteristic of natural language phytonyms. The analysis begins by outlining the repertoire selection criteria, encompas...

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Main Author: Alberto Ghia
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Università degli Studi di Torino 2025-07-01
Series:RiCognizioni
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/ricognizioni/article/view/11510
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author Alberto Ghia
author_facet Alberto Ghia
author_sort Alberto Ghia
collection DOAJ
description This study investigates the extent to which plant names, coined within the context of fictional world-building, reflect the morphosyntactic and semantic-motivational structures characteristic of natural language phytonyms. The analysis begins by outlining the repertoire selection criteria, encompassing fictional worlds, sources, and methodologies for plant name identification. It then explores the strategies used to integrate plants into fictional settings, categorizing them into four distinct types based on two variables: the plant's real or fictitious nature and whether the naming language is natural or constructed (artlang). Furthermore, the study examines the alignment of invented plant names with Brent Berlin's five principles of ethnobotanical nomenclature, focusing on morphosyntactic and semantic aspects. The presence of phenomena such as synonymy and borrowing, typical of folk phytonyms repertoires, is also analyzed, offering insights into the linguistic parallels between natural and constructed ecosystems.
format Article
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issn 2384-8987
language deu
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Università degli Studi di Torino
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series RiCognizioni
spelling doaj-art-250c2c75449f416da99ea354817951e62025-08-20T02:42:31ZdeuUniversità degli Studi di TorinoRiCognizioni2384-89872025-07-011223Plant Names in Constructed WorldsAlberto Ghia0Università di Torino This study investigates the extent to which plant names, coined within the context of fictional world-building, reflect the morphosyntactic and semantic-motivational structures characteristic of natural language phytonyms. The analysis begins by outlining the repertoire selection criteria, encompassing fictional worlds, sources, and methodologies for plant name identification. It then explores the strategies used to integrate plants into fictional settings, categorizing them into four distinct types based on two variables: the plant's real or fictitious nature and whether the naming language is natural or constructed (artlang). Furthermore, the study examines the alignment of invented plant names with Brent Berlin's five principles of ethnobotanical nomenclature, focusing on morphosyntactic and semantic aspects. The presence of phenomena such as synonymy and borrowing, typical of folk phytonyms repertoires, is also analyzed, offering insights into the linguistic parallels between natural and constructed ecosystems. https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/ricognizioni/article/view/11510Artlangword coinageethnobiological nomenclaturemotivation
spellingShingle Alberto Ghia
Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
RiCognizioni
Artlang
word coinage
ethnobiological nomenclature
motivation
title Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
title_full Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
title_fullStr Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
title_full_unstemmed Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
title_short Plant Names in Constructed Worlds
title_sort plant names in constructed worlds
topic Artlang
word coinage
ethnobiological nomenclature
motivation
url https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/ricognizioni/article/view/11510
work_keys_str_mv AT albertoghia plantnamesinconstructedworlds