The influence of Natural Environment in choosing of the Names of Residential Places
Subject Areas : Water and Environment
1 - Assistant Professor, Department of Iranian Languages and Dialects, The Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Tehran, Iran. *(Corresponding Author)
Keywords: environment, natural ecosystem, names of residential places, naming.,
Abstract :
Background and Objective: The importance of environment in human's daily life is such that it has a fundamental role in the most detailed to the most general matters related to humans. One of the most important characteristics of humans, which is affected by the environment and plays a significant role in preserving or deteriorating the environment, is language. The environment can affect the different lexical, morphological and syntactic layers of the language, and in this way lead to the creation of mental images that cause different approaches of the speakers to the environment. In the vocabulary section of the language, place names in general can be considered in terms of how the speakers of a language perceive the environment. Among the place names, the names of the residential areas that form a part of the main human ecosystem and different aspects of the cultural and biological environment of man are manifested in it are worthy of attention in terms of linguistic vocabulary and the influence of the environment in their selection.
Material and Methodology: In this research, the collection of information and data was done with the library method and using related texts, and the data were analyzed with a descriptive and analytical method.
Findings: The findings of this research show that the natural environment has played an important role in choosing the names of residential areas in Iran, and this shows the mental concerns of the selectors and users of these names regarding the environment in which they lived. At the same time, this approach can indirectly lead to attention to the environment and its preservation and viability.
Discussions and Conclusions: The names of residential places, in addition to being worthy of attention from a linguistic point of view, also deserve to be investigated and analyzed from a biological and environmental point of view, because many of the words that are used in the construction of the names of residential places are affected by geographical, biological conditions and other cultural and social components. Since these names are formed on the basis of culture, which itself depends on the environment in which the speakers live, by examining them, the influence of geography and environment can be recognized in the way they are named, and in this way, the intellectual commonalities and differences of the people living in an area can be identified. Therefore, it can be said that the abundance of words such as water, river, mountain, forest, and the names of plant and animal species in the names of residential places is a clear example of the importance of the environment for Iranians. The analyzed data show that the eco-oriented approach is the dominant approach in choosing the names of the residential places of Iran.
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