Familiarity-based splits in the grammar of toponyms

This paper argues for considering familiarity a candidate for the status of parameter in the domain of the Grammar of Names. The evidence in support of this claim is drawn from the Special Toponymic Grammar of twelve genealogically, typologically, and geographically different languages. It is shown that place names of the same class are frequently subject to a division into two subcategories, namely, on the one hand, place names that are familiar in some way to the participants of the communicative event and, on the other hand, place names which speakers and/or hearers are not familiar with. The different degrees of familiarity correlate with structural differences on the expression side. The rules that determine the morphosyntactic behaviour of familiar place names do not correspond one-to-one with those that regulate the morphosyntax of non-familiar place names. The data suggest that familiarity is spelled out differently across the languages of the world. It is concluded that further cross-linguistic research might reveal that familiarity is not restricted to the Special Grammar of Toponyms. This is why familiarity needs to be investigated in-depth in follow-up studies.