Constraints on Nickname Formation Reveal Functional Structure in Proper Names
Erik Zyman – University of California, Santa Cruz – [email protected]
Only in certain environments can a name be replaced by a nickname (“hypocoristicized”) (Coppock 2017). One relevant constraint involves middle names. Generally, a
(non–Southern-U.S.) English (male) name cannot be hypocoristicized when in middlename position ((1)). (I keep to such names here: the facts are simpler. The names in (1)
are used with permission.)
(1) Jeffrey
Nathan
Nathaniel
Steven
Jesse
Michael/*Mike/*Mikey
Vincent/*Vince
William/*Will/**Bill/*Billy
Robert/*Rob/*Robbie/**Bob/**Bobby
David/*Dave
Adler
Arnett
Clair
Foley
Triplett
To begin explaining this, let us analyze the [First-Name Middle-Name] constituent’s
structure. (The middle name does form a constituent with the first name, not with the surname: see (2). See Bošković 2009 for related investigation.)
(2) [To a young Neil Patrick Harris:]
{Neil Patrick/*Patrick Harris}, go eat NOW!
I propose that, in this constituent, the middle name is the complement, and the first
name the specifier, of a head O (essentially a linker; O from Greek ónoma ‘name’). O
selects two elements of category n. Because O takes two arguments, like a ditransitive V,
we might surmise that, just as VP is dominated by vP, OP is dominated by a oP. If so,
Neil Patrick in (2) has the structure:
(3)
The oP assumption could be questioned; let’s make it and see what happens. I propose
that oP is a phase, like vP—but, unlike v, o cannot attract anything, rendering oP an absolute island, and explaining contrasts like:
(4) *I told NEIL Patrick to eat (not LIAM Patrick).
*Patricki, I told [NEIL __i] to eat (not [LIAM __i]).
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Now to analyze nicknames. A nickname, I propose, is derived thus: a head
Hyp(ocoristic) (cf. Cinque 2015) selects the nP normally pronounced as the “full” name.
The “full” name’s Root raises to n (as usual); the resulting complex n raises to Hyp; and
the complex head in Hyp is spelled out as the nickname. Hence Mike spells out the complex Hyp head in
(5)
It is unknown whether Hyp can select oP, but to make things harder for us, suppose it
can:
(6)
oP being an absolute island, [n(P) Vincent] cannot raise to Hyp (or [Spec,HypP]), so
*Nathan Vince is underivable (even apart from word-order problems).
This analysis makes a surprising prediction: when a middle name is present, a normally hypocoristicizable first name should become unhypocoristicizable. (In (6), [n(P) Nathan] cannot raise to Hyp/[Spec,HypP], because oP blocks extraction.) Startlingly, this is
correct (Coppock 2017):
(7) Jeffrey/*Jeff
Michael Adler
Nathan/*Nate
Vincent Arnett
Nathaniel/*Nate William Clair
But we should consider an alternative analysis. Could the stars in (1)/(7) have a sociolinguistic rather than a syntactic origin? Perhaps middle names are only used in contexts
formal enough to block hypocoristicization (Derek Gideon/Sophia Kovaleva, p.c.). This
alternative is untenable. A full name (containing a middle name) can be used, somewhat
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lightheartedly, in an informal context like (8). Even in such a context, the hypocoristicization constraints hold.
(8) I’d like to introduce you to my main man, {Jeffrey/*Jeff} {Michael/*Mike/*Mikey}
Adler.
The sociolinguistic analysis cannot explain this; the syntactic analysis based on functional heads and phasehood does.
References
Bošković, Željko. 2009. “On Leo Tolstoy, its structure, Case, left-branch extraction, and prosodic
inversion.” In A Linguist’s Linguist: Studies in South Slavic Linguistics in Honor of E. Wayles
Browne, ed. Steven Franks, Vrinda Chidambaram, and Brian Joseph. Slavica. 99-122.
Cinque, Guglielmo. 2015. “Augmentative, pejorative, diminutive and endearing heads in the extended nominal projection.” In Structures, Strategies and Beyond: Studies in honour of Adriana Belletti, ed. Elisa Di Domenico, Cornelia Hamann, and Simona Matteini. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 67-81.
Coppock, Elizabeth. 2017. Untitled mini-grammar of her own name. Web. Available online at
<http://eecoppock.info/name.html>.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1339067. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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