UNOFFICIAL PLACE NAMES AND MINOR PLACE NAMES AS MARKERS OF URBAN IDENTITY

The article examines unoffi cial or folk place names and minor place names in Chelyabinsk residents’ speech as a means of representing their identity. Based on the comments of the Internet portal 74.ru users, unofficial names of Chelyabinsk toponymic objects were revealed, their main functions were defi ned, word-building means used in the formation of folk place names and minor place names including suffi xation, abbreviation and acronymy were analyzed. The analysis of the empirical material showed that suffi xation is characteristic mainly of unoffi cial godonyms, abbreviations are frequently found in unoffi cial names of cities, districts and derivatives of generalized folk names of the residents. Abbreviation in folk place names and minor place names is used without their mea-ning transformation, while suffi xation and reduction are often applied to form emotive unoffi cial place names and minor place names with negative connotations. Chelyabinsk unoffi cial minor place names are characterized by transonymization and partial or complete deheroization of offi cial commemorative names. Folk place names refl ect creativity of the portal users, actualize the opposition "our own" — "foreign", the recognition and suffi cient fi xa-tion of unoffi cial place names and minor place names in the linguistic consciousness of Chelyabinsk residents and mainly the negative attitude to the urban landscape in general.