Place names between popular and administrative culture

Abstract

The paper focuses on differences and similarities between popular (oral) place names and administrative (written) ones, starting from the observation of repertoires collected in Azzano d’Asti (Piedmont, north-western Italy). The analysis involves both quantitative and qualitative aspects. On the one hand, the paper investigates the creation of the repertoires, considering their different functions; on the other hand, the observation is focused on differences and similarities between oral and written place names used to designate the same place (taking into account phonetic, morphological, syntactic and semantic elements).