VIETNAMESE TOPONYMY: FOR FURTHER DISCUSSIONS

Abstract

Considering the saussurian concepts of one of the two language functions as absolute universality, the Vietnamese toponymists believe that words as linguistic signs, are used to nominate things in a unified way, regardless of its forms. As result, they think that naming a place is a linguistic event, and the place name must be an object of the linguistics which is perceived and interpreted linguistically. That’s why the Vietnamese toponymy has reached an impasse and consequently the studies on Vietnamese toponymy do not give their theoretical and practical values. They are not acceptable and belivebale ontologically. In order to get out of the impasse, the Vietnamese toponymists should stop taking the name of a place not only as arbitrary linguistic sign for more practical and more credible studies in the future.