Periphrastic names of French toponyms with components "white" and "black"

Color designations are receiving increased attention from linguists, a special place in color studies is occupied by the linguoculturological aspect, the purpose of which is to identify the connection between color and culture. The subject of the research in this article is the color periphrases of oikonyms, in particular the names of French cities. Oikonyms, being realities, contain socio-cultural information. In the tourist, journalistic discourse, oikonyms have periphrases, which, in turn, also have linguistic and cultural potential. The purpose of the article is to identify the linguistic and cultural specifics of the periphrastic names of French oikonyms containing the name of white and black colors as a component of the periphrase, as well as to create a linguocultural commentary of the detected periphrases. The research material was the toponymic periphrases of French cities with the colorative components blanc (white) and noir (black). The analysis of the research corpus showed that the periphrastic names of French cities with a white or black component belong to figurative periphrases motivated by such signs as: 1) the color of buildings constructed from natural resources representing the wealth of the region (igneous rocks, clay shale, calcareous tuff, white limestone); 2) the development of industrial production in the region. Traditionally, black and white colors in French linguoculture are associated with negative and positive connotations, respectively. This fact is confirmed in the periphrases of cities with a white component. The periphrases of French cities with a black component have both negative and positive connotations, depending on their motivation.