SEMIOTIC VALUE OF HUMAN NICKNAMES IN THE NOVEL SEMOLJ LJUDI BY MIRO VUKSANOVIĆ

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the most prominent characteristics of people’s nicknames as semiotic signs in the novel “Semolj ljudi” by Miro Vukasinović. Prototypically, a nickname represents the evaluation of the people given by a traditional community. We can note down four levels of meaning in the novel: (a) meaning in the isolated world of Semolj mountain; (b) meaning in territory beyond Semolj; (c) universal meaning; (d) meta-poetic meaning. In some cases the signifier is negated, and the linguistic sign is reduced to its form, which is represented on the phonetic/phonological or the morphological level. Each nickname is an open text susceptible to reinterpretations.