ONYMS’ FUNCTIONING IN THE GLOBAL NETWORK OF THE DIGITAL STATE

Danylo R. Krokhmalnyi

Email: Danylo.Krokhmalnyi@lnu.edu.ua,

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7167-4964

PhD.

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

Department of Ukrainian Applied Linguistics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2025.26.30-44

PDF (UKRAINIAN)

ABSTRACT

The article investigates the peculiarities of the functioning of onyms in the modern Ukrainian informational space, which is dynamically transforming under the influence of digitalization. The focus is placed on the specific features of onymic vocabulary in the context of the emerging digital state, where proper names play a key role in communication, identification, and branding processes. The virtualization of life has given rise to new types of onyms – siteonyms, nickonyms, fileonyms, programonyms, and internetonyms – which are becoming widespread in user lexicons and actively function in virtual environments. Special attention is paid to socio-communicative factors influencing onym derivation, particularly in political discourse (e.g., branding through onyms such as “Ze!”). The author analyzes examples of state digital services whose names serve both informative and symbolic functions – “Diia”, “ProZorro”, “e-Malyatko”, “Trembita”. The article emphasizes the importance of clear, identifiable, and nationally marked naming in the digital space. It examines the onomastic specificity of the online environment, including both official nominations and informal ones, such as pseudo-onyms, passwordonyms, and virtualonyms in the context of computer games, digital culture, and social networks. The role of onyms in shaping the cognitive image of digital reality is underlined, and the prospects for further research in internet onomastics are outlined. The material is of both theoretical and practical value for contemporary onomastics, highlighting the need for appropriate linguistic support of digital transformations. It is of interest to linguists, onomasticians, and specialists in the field of digital communication and culture, as it demonstrates new trends in the development of the language system in the context of global digitalization.

Keywords: Ukrainian language; onyms; siteonyms; semantics; history of the internet onyms.

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