Toponymy of Alsace as an object of linguistic limology

The article is devoted to studying the toponymic picture of the Alsace historical region from the point of view of linguistic limology. An attempt is made to define the limological approach in linguistic research and describe the peculiarities of coexistence and development of the Alsatian dialect, German and French languages in a cross-border region. The authors of the article attempt to trace the interdependence of changes in national borders and geographical names in a linguo-historical context. The article presents an analysis of the views of Russian and foreign researchers on the meaning of the term limology and investigates the process of «francisation» of toponyms which coexist on the same territory (in a cross-border region) of the Romance and Germanic languages. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt is made to answer the following questions: how does the movement of national borders affect the toponymy of the region, what linguistic transformations can be traced in geographical names, and how great is the interplay of languages and cultures in cross-border regions (for example, the historical region of Alsace). The analysis of the practical material made it possible to identify the following types of transformations of Alsace toponymic picture in the French-speaking environment: literal transcription, phonetic adaptation, alternation of suffix forms, translation. The identified types of transforming the toponymic picture of Alsace demonstrate the complexity and diversity of the cross-border region linguistic picture. In the conclusion the authors underline the change in the function of language: from a means of communication it turns into a sign of the preservation of ethnic identity.