72 about gendered names such as Shingai (be courageous) for a boy child. Such a name is normally given to a baby boy and it will be expressing the parents’ wish to see their family rising to the occasion in terms of their economic well-being. Thus, it will be encouraging the family to work hard for them to improve their lives. On the other hand, the baby girl maybe given a name like Nyarai (be ashamed).This name will convey a strong message to those people who will be wishing the family bad luck, but the family go on to overcome all odds and prosper.
Many onomasticians, for instance Meiring (1993), Nicolaisen (1987), Raper (1987) and Neethling (1995) link connotation with onomastics. On this idea Nicolaisen (1978:48) says,
“Naming is a process by which words become names through association...using a name involves knowledge of the appropriate associations.”
In connection with the idea of connotation and association, among the Zezuru people, the element of association is also gendered to the extent that a person is given a name which is associated with his or her gender group. It is in connotation that the concept of descriptive backing comes in which extends the concept of meaning of a name by viewing it as a loose collection of “associations” around the name (Pfukwa 200
73 connotations attached to a name. These beliefs and connotations can include even wildest speculations. Leslie and Skipper (1990:279) argue that “The meanings of names are socially negotiated. There are no final arbiters for meanings of names”. Pfukwa (2007) says that in the framework of descriptive backing, each meaning can be seen as an aggregate of speculation that include and simultaneously exclude certain attributes associated with the name in question.
Through descriptive backing, names become an integral component of the cultural and historical narrative of a community. Descriptive backing entails that all connotations associated with a name regardless of grammatical accuracy (pragmatics).Thecultural aspect with reference to the current study will entail gender stereotyping resulting in certain children being given gendered names such as Tsitsi (mercy), Chenai (be perfect) for girls and Simukai (Arise), Simbarashe (God’s power) for boys respectively.
According to Pfukwa (2007:50), several important points can be extrapolated from the descriptive backing theory in the naming process.The points are as follows:
1. Once a word moves from the lexical domain and picks up onomastics attributes it loses its lexical meaning(s).
2. Connotation and association are very close in terms of meaning.
3. Names go beyond strict linguistic analysis and pick up non- linguistic associations or connotations.
These associations or connotations may have no link with the original meaning of the name especially where the name has moved from one language to the other. By then the name will have lost its lexical meaning as it went through the ‘continuum’ of meanings.
Descriptive backing uses a subjective approach as it is based on individual experience and knowledge about a place, person or object bearing a name. Pfukwa (2007:49) supports this argument by observing that descriptive backing extends the meaning of names by viewing it as a loose collection of “associations” about the name. Pfukwa adds that descriptive backing makes it possible for names to be indispensible socio-historical narratives of a society. Searle (1969) argues that descriptive backing which he also calls descriptive presupposition enables names to be used predicatively because they are logically connected with characteristics of the objects they refer to. Searle posits that descriptive backing consists of a number of propositions concerning the identity of the name bearer. According to Searle’s understanding, descriptive backing is not a single set replicated as it is throughout society but rather a social composite.
A concept which is found in descriptive backing is connotation. Necolaisen (1978) notes that
74 names can function connotatively, and they are not expected to have lexical meanings.
Forinstance, personal names in Shona such as Kurai (grow/mature) connotatively urge people to realise that they are now mature rather than behaving like toddlers or adolescents. Jesperson (1965) cited in Lyons 1995:220) is right in observing that proper names are rich in connotation and personal names being proper names are rich in connotation as well. According to Mamvura (2014) under descriptive backing all connotations surrounding a name come into play when an analysis of a name is done. This aspect of descriptive backing is very relevant to the current study because it is through such a through study of a name that one can realise that a certain name may have gender connotations. The name’s potential in positioning an individual along gender lines cannot be underestimated. Descriptive backing therefore helps to show how names convey connotative meanings. These connotations may entail information which is gendered.
McDowell (1981:7) in Pfukwa (2007) says that descriptive backing consists of a number of propositions concerning the identity of the name bearer. He goes on to ay that these propositions are similar to the indices of identity that are used to determine the identity of a person and gender is one of them. In this respect it can be seen that descriptive backing is closely related to the issues of naming and identity. According to Pfukwa (2007) descriptive backing as a theory can work outside the confines of structural linguistics and can be extended to the work of the sociologists and anthropologists such as McDowell (1981), Brandes (1975), Gilmore (1982) and Parkin (1989).These scholars take holistic approach when studying society and they do advocate for the use of descriptive backing when studying the meaning of names.
Suzman (2002) in Pfukwa (2007) says that when studying the meaning of a name through descriptive backing, the social context where the name is found becomes part of the name. This means that we cannot come up with a relevant meaning of a name when we do not know the social context surrounding the name. The importance of the social context as advocated by the descriptive backing is insightful to the present study because gender being a social construct is usually reflected in naming practices among the Zezuru.
Pfukwa (2007) says that descriptive backing holds together different streams of onomastics inquiry and it is very useful when one is carrying out a study on meanings of names and how these meanings can have gender connotations. Pfukwa (2007) adds that the concept of descriptive backing extends to the concept of meaning by viewing it as a loose collection of
“all associations” around a name.
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