Onomatopoeia in self-explanatory last names as a linguostylistic technique in English literature
Onomatopoeia is a linguistic term denoting the process of creating a word which phonetically resembles the sound of the thing it describes. Onomatopoeia in diﬀerent languages can be either identical or similar, or completely diﬀerent. Sometimes onomatopoeia is used in surnames of literary characters to enhance the comic effect. The pur pose of the ar ticle is to identify onomatopoeia in charactonyms in English literature. Surnames and names can contain an expressiveemotional, ironic or satirical description of a person. Onomastic units are used in literature to transfer the author’s intention, contribute to the formation of its contentsemantic structure, interact with the other components of the artistic text. Proper names are the elements of a novel, endowed with a big potential and existing in direct inter relation with other levels and elements of the nar rative str ucture. Charactonyms contribute to the disclosure of the psychological portrait of a character, indicate its external and internal qualities. Thus, the author applies a charactonym with an onomatopoeic element to create an additional eﬀect. The article considers characters in the works of Benjamin Johnson, John Gay, Richard Graves, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Joan Rowling. Hereby, we focus on the depiction of the comic eﬀect in English literature, paying attention to the attempt to interpret speaking names containing onomatopoeic elements.