Publication details
Hypokoristika na -ča dříve a dnes
| Title in English | Czech Hypocoristics Ending in -ča Then and Now |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | This article is devoted to the opinions of Czech onomastic scholars regarding hypocoristics formed using the suffix -ča and their connection to a certain generation, social group, urban or rural environment, the degree to which they were fashionable during certain periods and the like. There is a generally shared opinion that 1) these hypocoristics appeared initially (in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century) primarily in rural areas and entered Czech literature at that time, e.g. as the names of poor country girls who came to work as servants in larger towns (Anča, Barča, Tonča), and 2) that this type of hypocoristic was revived in the last decades of the twentieth century and the suffix -ča began to be added primarily to fashionable names (Monča, Verča, Domča), by far more often to female names than to male ones. The article adds the finding that during the time of the First Czechoslovak Republic (as is again confirmed by literature, films and the like), even urban young women from wealthy families, members of the golden youth or eccentric artists were called by the names Irča, Milča, Jarča, or Emča. This mapping of the hypocoristics under study was, to a significant degree, confirmed through a search of the SYN corpus of written texts as well as of spoken corpora (primarily ORAL). Particular attention was devoted to the expressivity of hypocoristics ending in -ča. |