THE REFERENTIAL POTENTIAL OF NOUN GROUPS FORMED BY THE BULGARIAN INDEFINITE PRONOUNS AND THE PROPER NAME

Abstract

The article explores the referential potential of noun groups formed by the Bulgarian indefinite pronouns някой/някакъв (си) and the proper name. The study is based on authentic linguistic data from Bulgarian National Corpus and partly from other internet- sources. The linguistic data classified according to E. V. Paducheva’s classification of reference classes of noun groups. The referential approach allows all possible uses of noun groups to be described. There are only isolated observations on combinations of indefinite pronouns with proper names, which can be supplemented and reinterpreted according to specific research tasks. We are interested in the ability of indefinite pronouns to combine with different components of the meaning of the proper names. We show that: 1) the compatibility of a proper name with indicators of indeterminacy is not a rare or isolated case, but a systemic functioning; 2) the referential variation of the noun groups някой/някакъв (си) + proper name is due to the complex interaction between the semantics of indefinite pronouns and the proper name, which involves the denotative and significative components of the name’s semantics; 3) the proper names in combination with някой/някакъв (си) cover a wide spectrum of variability, revealing a predisposition to both referential and non-referential, as well as to predicate uses. In combination with indeterminatives, a proper name can realise its main functions as a linguistic sign: a) to act as a ‘code’ for an object; b) to identify an object; c) to characterise an object. We discuss ways of solving homonymy of different types of referential uses. Refs 22.