Toponymic nomination as a landmark in the communicative space (on the example of folk prose)

The article deals with the functionality of toponyms in the structure of historical and toponymic legends of the Buryat Republic Russian population. We highlight a number of functions typical for toponym as a phenomenon of language and as a folklore phenomenon. The place-name in a folk text, on the one hand, actualizes the living space of the folk character, on the other, marks the most significant and memorable for the bearers of traditions geographical objects. The naming of these objects in folklore has a double function: they become landmarks in the communicative space for the characters of folklore texts and also for the narrators of these texts. So we have concluded that in folklore text the functions of toponyms are diverse (toponym is polyfunctional) and significant. The functional significance of toponyms indicates the importance of toponymic motifs for the folk traditions of East Siberia, as well as for its history. Also we have revealed that the place-name in the folk text is a landmark not only in the communicative space of people, but also in time, i.e. in essence it is a real chronotope.