固有名詞学 (onomastics) のハンドブックにおいて，name （名前）の定義がいくつかの形で提示されている．第2章の結論の記述が最もよくまとまっているように思われるので，その部分を引用しよう．
Names are nouns with unique denotation, they are definite, have no restrictive relative modifiers, and occupy a special place in anaphoric relations. They display an inherent basic level and can be argued to be the most prototypical nominal category. Names have no defining sense. They can have connotative meanings, but this has little grammatical relevance. We have stressed the need to rely on grammatical criteria, which are too often ignored in approaches to names.
The approach developed in this chapter aims at being universally valid in two ways. First, the pragmatic-semantic concept of names defined in the introduction is cross-linguistically applicable. It is distinct from language-specific grammatical categories of Proper Names for which language-specific grammatical criteria should be adduced. Second, our approach takes into account all types of proper names. The question of what counts as a name, very often debated in the literature, should be answered on two levels, keeping in mind the distinction between proprial lemmas and proper names. The language specific question as to what belongs to the grammatical category of Names does not necessarily yield the same answer as the question of what can be considered to be a name from a semantic-pragmatic point of view. Mismatches are most likely to be found at the bottom of the cline of nameworthiness . . . . (Langendonck and Van de Velde 38)
正確にいえば，この文章は name の定義というよりも，name に確認される典型的な複数の特徴を記述したものと考えられる．第2段落にあるように，この定義なり特徴は，(1) 通言語学的に有効であり，(2) 人名や地名に限らずあらゆる種類の名前に当てはまる，という2点において，よく練られたものといってよさそうだ．さらにこの文章からは，名前をめぐる議論では，ある項目が名前か否かというデジタルな問題ではなく，「名前らしさ」のプロトタイプの問題，程度の問題としてとらえる必要があることも示唆されている．
「名前」がこれほど複雑で奥行きのある話題だとは思わなかった．
・ Van Langendonck, Willy and Mark Van de Velde. "Names and Grammar." Chapter 2 of The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming. Ed. Carole Hough. Oxford: OUP, 2016. 17--38.
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