Visual and Verbal Semiotics in the Moscow-vs.-Paris Métro

Abstract

This paper compares the principles of naming métro stations in Moscow and Paris. The database covers 234 Moscow and 305 Paris métro station names. We analyze the station names along different axes. In the case of Moscow, the development of the métro is referred to the periodization of socio-economic national development. This makes it possible to distinguish naming principles and build their hierarchy in each period. In the case of Paris, the chronological principle of the analysis appears less relevant: stations used to be given names relating to the names of surrounding urban spaces at the time of a station’s construction. Initial analysis thus takes city geography into account. For both the Moscow and Paris métros attention is then paid to the etymology of station names. Several thematic groupings of names are found: station names following a geographical principle (naming after a village that used to be located around the place), after a street (or square, park, boulevard, etc.), or an institution near the station; names referring to historical figures (war heroes, politicians, writers, key social groups, etc.) or events, as well as names alluding to national values. Changes in métro station names are of particular interest as they appear to reflect shifts in the country’s political environment. In Moscow, the trend to commemorate the country’s revolutionary past in the long run gave way to geographical naming. In Paris, the opposite trend appears to be emerging, as the initial geographical naming principle seems to be replaced by a more ideological one.