Abstract

This study is an analysis of phonemic variation and its relationship with toponymic variations. The phonemic variation instantiated in a toponym initially resulted in the variation of toponymic forms. Then, through homonymic attraction, the variant toponymic forms change the meaning of toponyms. On the one hand, there are pronounced processes in toponymic front morphemes, such as replacement, deletion, and contraction of phonemes, which include palatalization, articulation place assimilation, umlaut, vowel rising, and monophthongization. These aforementioned processes have a variation of toponymic forms that are brought about by phonemic variation. Moreover, through homonymic attraction, the ariant forms of toponymic front morphemes engender variation in the meaning of toponyms. On the other hand, in toponymic back morphemes, honemic variations come about only with replacement and deletion. Therefore, the phonemic variation in both front and back toponymic morphemes adapts to the phonemic variation in common, everyday language. And because the lexicon that undergoes variation is chiefly those that represent toponymic particularities, it frequently appears in toponyms.