Nominal transposition of nicknames employed by German-speaking internet users

A nickname is an essential element of the modem onomastic system. Its main functions are identification, self-identification, self- presentation and self-nomination of the Internet user. The last function also acts as a basic feature of the nickname. With the help of a nickname the self-nomination function is actualized in Internet communication in a variety of ways. The analysis of 4000 nicknames and related personal data of the German-speaking users of such Internet services as Twitter, ICQ, Facebook, Flickr, World of Tanks, World of Warcraft showed that every fifth nickname is derived from a “strange” or a precedent proper name. This method of nominal modeling is a nominal transposition - a transfer of the name from one denotatum to another one. There are two main ways of nominal transposition. The first one is transanthroponimisation, which is understood as a transfer of the personal or family name from one individual to another. The following anthroponyms are used as nicknames: the names of musicians, athletes, politicians, book and film characters, etc. An essential requirement for transanthroponimisation between two denotata is based on the principle of their similarity and proximity. The second method of the nominal transposition (which is not as widely used as the first one) is transonymisation. It is a transition of the proper noun from one class to another. These self-nominations also have references to real and unreal denotata. Such nicknames are produced from the names of different brands, cars, cities, mythonimic marks, etc. The research has proved that the nominal transposition is a highly demanded type of self-nomination in the Germanspeaking web space. These nicknames have significant illocutionary content and connotations; they also characterize their author directly or indirectly.