Lexico-semantic characteristics of urbanonyms of Chinese parks

this article is dedicated to the analysis of urbanonyms – names of urban objects – based on the example of city parks in China. Urbanonyms are considered an essential part of the lexical-semantic space of the language, reflecting the cultural, historical, and ideological characteristics of a people. In Chinese culture, parks hold a special significance as embodiments of the philosophy of harmony between humans and nature. The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines methods from lexicology, onomastics, and cultural studies. A total of 94 park names were analyzed, selected through continuous sampling from various regions across China. The main focus is on identifying and classifying the key factors influencing urbanonym nomination. Eight criteria were identified: references to nature, landscape features, geographic location, commemoration of historical figures, traditional and modern Chinese values, mention of animals and birds, expression of human emotions and sensations, and references to international relations. The most frequent categories included urbanonyms reflecting landscape characteristics (26%) and the park's geographic location (22%). The analysis demonstrates that Chinese urbanonyms serve not only nominative but also descriptive, ideological, and cultural functions. Therefore, the names of Chinese city parks provide valuable insight into the national worldview and linguistic representation of cultural values and symbols of the Chinese people.

lexicology, semantics, onomastics, toponymy, onym, toponym, urbanonym, the Chinese language