Teatral’nyj Proezd or Proezd Teatra? (Concorded and Unconcorded Attributes in Russian Street Names)

Abstract

The article deals with the question of why, in the existence of such Russian street names as Teatral'nyj proezd (‘Theater Lane’) and proezd Khudozhestvennogo Teatra (‘Lane of the Art Theater’) as well as Bibliotechnaya ulica (‘Library street’) or Bannyj pereulok (‘Bath-House Lane’), such names as ulica Biblioteki (‘Street of a Library’) or pereulok Ban' (‘Lane of Bath-Houses’) are impossible. With reference to the material of the history of Moscow street names, it is shown that the toponymic model “words like street, lane, etc. + noun in the genitive case” appeared after 1917 This was due, firstly, to the transition from the natural method of forming street names to the administrative method, and, secondly, with the addition of the leading, nominative function of toponyms with memorial and propaganda functions. In cases where street names are created not spontaneously, in the process of verbal communication, but by decisions of the administration, and not only for the purpose of nomination, but also for perpetuating memorable events and outstanding people, the model using the genitive case is more convenient, since it has greater universality. An important limitation that the grammatical system of the Russian language imposes on the lexical content of the model under consideration is due to the fact that the position of words in the genitive case, which are attached to nouns, is intended to actualize the meanings of the words being defined. This means that nouns in the genitive case, acting as unconcorded attributes for words like street, should bind the content of these words to the knowledge of the addressees, and therefore express meanings that are understandable to them. For this reason, with the existence or potential possibility of such toponyms as proezd Khudozhestvennogo Teatra (‘Lane of the Art Theater’) or pereulok Sandunovskih Ban (‘Lane of the Sandunovsky Bath-Houses’) (thanks to attributes, the addressees understand which theater and which Bath-Houses are in question), the names proezd Teatra (‘Lane of a Theater’) or pereulok Ban' (‘Lane of Bath-Houses’) do not correspond to the language norms. This limitation is compensated by the possibility of forming toponyms such as Tetral'nyj proezd (‘Theater Lane’) and Bannyj pereulok (‘Bath-House Lane’), which use the traditional toponymic model.