Standardization of geographical names

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Standardization of geographical names

• Ormeling Ferjan

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Plaatje truckdriver
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Confusion because of different name variants
(allonyms)

• ??????
• Erevan (Fr)
• Yerevan (Eng)
• Jerevan (It)
• Jerewan (W.Ger)
• Jerewan (E.Ger)

• ????????
• Kouibychev (Fr)
• Kuybyshev (Eng)
• Kujbyšev (It)
• Kuibyschew (WG)
• Kuibišew E.Ger)
• Now Samara

4
Confusion because of same name for different
locations (homonyms)

• Birmingham (UK)
• Birmingham (Alabama)
• Birmingham (Iowa)
• Birmingham (Michigan)
• Birmingham (Ohio)

• Batavia (historical name for Jakarta)
• Batavia (Argentina)
• Batavia (California)
• Batavia (Illinois)
• Batavia (Ohio)
• Batavia (New York)

• Stratford upon Avon (UK)
• Stratford upon Avon (Australia)
• Stratford upon Avon (New Zealand)

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Standardization of geographical names

• National standardisation
• Establishing on a national basis for each
  geographical object one single name version as
  the official version

• International standardisation
• Establishing, on a national basis for each
  geographical object one single name version in
  each script as the official version

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Standardization of geographical names

• Major aim avoiding ambiguity and confusion, and
  therefore gaining time

• Subsidiary aims avoiding political conflict, cf
• Macedonia
• Arabian/Persian Gulf
• East Sea/Sea of Japan

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First awareness of toponymical problems books
published in 1950s
Aurousseau Weygandt Rostand
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First awareness of toponymical problems
congresses
-First International Geographical Congress
Antwerp 1871 Local names policy -Third (?)
International Geographical Congress, Berlin 1899
(?) project of International Map of the World
11 million -Bonn 1962, Conference on the IMW
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UNCSGN

• 1967 London (First) United Nations Conference on
  the Standardization of Geographical Names
• each country should have a national names
  authority to draft a standardized list of
  geographical names on its territory it then
  should submit this list to UN, and then all other
  UN member states should adhere to it (local names
  policy).

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Policies for national standardization

• A. Owner-controlled policy person/institution in
  charge of a geographical object decides on the
  spelling of its name

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Policies for national standardization

• A. Owner-controlled policy person/institution in
  charge of a geographical object decides on the
  spelling of its name
• B. Conservationist policy the name version as it
  has come down to us should be preserved (even if
  that causes discrepancies between spelling and
  pronunciation)

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Policies for national standardization

• A. Owner-controlled policy person/institution in
  charge of a geographical object decides on the
  spelling of its name
• B. Conservationist policy the name version as it
  has come down to us should be preserved (even if
  that causes discrepancies between spelling and
  pronunciation)
• Worcestershire Woostershire
• Leicester - Lester
• Northamptonshire- Northants
• Norwich - Norrich

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Attitudes towards geographical names

• Geographical names as linguistic reference tools,
  so they can be streamlined, spelled as they
  sound
• Geographical names as proper names, part of our
  cultural heritage. As proper names do not change,
  so geographical names should not be altered but
  be preserved.

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International standardization policies

• Starting from the local names policy
• the source country decides on a conversion system
  from one script to another, or
• the receiver country decides, or
• both source country and receiver countries try to
  work out one joint standard for each writing
  system

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International standardization policies(continued)

• But the source country might not have the means
  to produce a standard
• But there are gt 160 receiver countries and we do
  not want 160 versions of each geographical name
• So, cooperation of source country and receiver
  countries might work out best

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Counter-argument against standardization
language Pronunciation of letter c-
Spanish k or th
Italian k or ch
French k or s
Czech ts
Turkish j or dzj
German s
Dutch k or s
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Counter-argument against standardization
language Pronunciation of letter c- Spelling of sound sh-
Spanish k or th ch
Italian k or ch sci
French k or s ch
Czech ts š
Turkish j or dzj s
German s sch
Dutch k or s sj
So in order to pronounce a name we need to know
in which language it is spelled
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Issues in names standardization

• 1) Following UN Recommendations or not?
• 2) Do we select modern names or traditional
  names?
• 3) Generally accepted names or local dialect
  names?
• 4) Should place names be affected by spelling
  rules?
• 5) What procedure to be selected for multilingual
  areas?
• 6) Should diacritical signs be used integrally?
  (Roman Alphabet Rule)
• 7) Should we differentiate name spellings for
  different age groups or cartographical products?
• 8) Should we transliterate or transcribe names
  from foreign scripts?

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Use of names should be predictable
Hoogezand Hoogezandse HoogezandscheHogezandsche
-Hogezandse
Map of the Netherlands
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Names changes should be well advertised
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Course contents

• 16 Sept Introduction (by Dr Földi)
• 23 Sept Terminology (Dr Földi)
• 30 Sept The naming Process, Functions of
  geographical names
• 7 Oct Field collection systems, Office
  processing, National Agencies
• ? Oct Role UN, Toponymical Guidelines
• 14 Oct Exonyms, Multilingual areas, Minority
  names
• 28 Oct Names orthography (Dr Földi)
• 4 Nov History of Hungarian names (Dr Földi)
• 11 Nov etc

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Place names are tools and have to be handy!
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Names on the map
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Can the procedures be systematized?