Extern

Abstract:
From the perspective of geography, place names are not only identifiers on maps and in the territory. They also constitute a source of geographic information of enormous value. Place names designate and, eventually, describe the place they refer to and they provide more or less explicit information about it. But each name also codifies specific information about the place that may only be decoded in its particular context, through the individual analysis of a toponym. Each place name is tied up with a specific and unrepeatable idea of the place. Consequently, place names are valuable tools for geographers in their task of ‘reading’ and analysing places.This paper aims at achieving a better understanding of the possibilities and boundaries of place names as geographical information tools. Thus, information derived from place names is analysed by the way it is collected, interpreted and transmitted by the residents of the place through fieldwork, ethnographic surveys and documentary archive analysis as well as mental maps. Also, the ability of place names to influence the discourse about a certain place is highlighted. Finally, a categorisation of the relationships local residents establish with the place names they use is proposed.