Die Toponymik deutscher Sprachminderheiten in Rio Grande do Sul, Brasilien: Ortsnamen mit dem Zweitglied Eck(e)

Abstract

This contribution covers the development of Brazilian German toponyms featuring the classifier Eck(e) (e.g., Bauereck). Our study focusses on migration areas in Rio Grande do Sul (Southern Brazil), with Portuguese being the main contact language. The database includes written sources, spoken data from our own fieldwork, and data from the project ALMA- H. 40 out of approximately 300 tokens of our data set represent toponyms featuring Eck(e). The aim of this article is a linguistic classification of a specific type of construction in the repertoire of the surveyed social communities. Constructions of the type determiner+ Eck(e) are linked to several semantic classes. Furthermore, language contact phenomena are found in proprialization and in the translation of the corresponding toponyms into Portuguese. Finally, the studied phenomenon is a starting point for developing a concept of a toponomastic dictionary, covering geographical, lexical, and etymological aspects.