سيمياء أسماء أعلام الأشخاص : الكنية أنموذجا

Abstract EN

The semiotics of proper names represents one of the major linguistic features related to the human daily linguistic practice; it is through it that man can make successful communication and positive social interaction.

in addition to its indicative function that shows the individual him/herself and his/her entity among the others, it represents linguistic icons and symbols with a personal and social significance, with which the world takes shape to an image of a symbolic reality that is indicative to different aspects of life, and the knowledge of its main doors – names, surnames and nicknames- becomes a specific cognitive knowledge overflowed by words that indicate our entities.

the nickname is considered as a main door to Arabic proper names, and a personal linguistic indication that individuals were known with in the Arab society – probably- specifically.

it was said “the nickname is used as a kind of respect and glorification to the nicknamed so his/her name is not declared in speech”.

semantically speaking, the nickname is a two-sided linguistic sign: an apparent side that is a simple additional composition, and a hidden side that includes a cover-up and concealment of rhetorical purposes that have semantic indications in communication and interaction in the social context.

this study tries to put a number of questions concerning the nickname as a distinctive sign either from a structural side, or from its semantic structure, then, to highlight the dimensions of this linguistic sign and its impact on building interactive symbolic pattern among the members of the Arab community, and the reasons behind its absence in the Algerian linguistic usage.