La médiation toponymique est l’un des ensembles relationnels qui font une terre habitée, ici le Québec et l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick. Trois souches linguistiques principales y ont déployé les lieux : l’autochtone, la française, l’anglaise. Les motifs de dénomination reliés à la propriété et la fréquentation, l’appartenance et l’événement, l’expérience directe et l’honorifique fondent la résonance des noms et de la terre. Les noms de lieux constituent un héritage à vivre et à transmettre. Corps, cœur et esprit alimentent une toponymie affective et sensible qui ressortit aux visions et perceptions du milieu naturel, s’exprime par l’anthroponynie (possessive et honorifique) et la consécration culturelle, imprègne la dynamique des changements de noms. En est une illustration le débat identitaire dans le contexte des fusions municipales au Québec. La dimension spécifiquement sémantique de la toponymie affective et sensible a permis d’établir trois grandes classes thématiques : empreintes possessives et identitaires, sens et sensations, ambiances et sentiments. Des profils régionaux apparaissent au Québec et des profils de comtés en Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick ; une toponymie des bonheurs et des malheurs se dessine. De cette mise en parallèle du Québec et de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick, il ressort des types toponymiques fortement contrastés qui témoignent de leur histoire politique respective et du rôle des autorités institutionnelles en la matière. / The toponymic mediation is one of the systems of relationships, which compose an inhabited land, here Quebec and Acadia of New Brunswick. Three main linguistic stems have influenced the construction of places : the autochthonous one, the French one and the English one. Denomination in relationship with property and socializing, belonging and event, direct experience and honours make the names resound with the earth. The place names offer an inheritance to live with and transmit. Body, heart and mind nourish an affective and sensitive toponymy, which relies on visions and perceptions of the environment. It expresses itself through anthroponymy (possessive and honorary) and through cultural consecration ; it influences the dynamics of changing names. An illustration of that is the debate on identity in the context of municipal mergers in Quebec. The specifically semantic dimension of affective and sensitive toponymy establishes three great thematic categories : imprints of possession and identity, senses and sensations, atmospheres and feelings. Regional profiles appear in Quebec and profiles of counties in Acadia of New Brunswick : it outlines a toponymy of happiness and sorrow. Very contrasted toponymic types stand out from this comparison between Quebec and Acadia of New Brunswick ; they testify to the respective political history of both regions and to the role of institutional authorities.

Text in English / This qualitative study presents an onomastic perspective on the changing linguistic landscape of Zimbabwe which resulted from the post-2000 land reforms (also known as the Third Chimurenga). When veterans of Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation assumed occupancy of former white-owned farms, they immediately pronounced their take-over of the land through changes in place names. The resultant toponymic landscape is anchored in the discourses of the First and Second Chimurenga. Through recasting the Chimurenga (war of liberation) narrative, the proponents of the post-2000 land reforms endeavoured to create a historical continuum from the colonisation of Zimbabwe in 1890 to the post-2000 reforms, which were perceived as an attempt to redress the historical anomaly of land inequality. The aim of this study is to examine toponymic changes on the geo-linguistic landscape, and establish the extent of the changes and the post-colonial identity portrayed by these place names. Within the case study design, research methods included in-depth interviews, document study and observations as means of data generation. Through the application of critical and sociolinguistic theories in the form of post-colonial theory, complemented by geo-semiotics, political semiotics and language ecology, this study uncovers the richness of toponymy in exposing a cryptic social narrative reflective of, among others, contestations of power. The findings indicate that post-2000 toponymy is a complex mixture of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial place names. These names recast the various narratives in respect of the history of Zimbabwe through the erasure of colonial toponyms and resuscitation older Chimurenga names. The resultant picture portrayed by post-2000 toponymy communicates a complex message of contested land ownership in Zimbabwe. There is a pronounced legacy of colonial toponymy that testifies to the British Imperial occupation of the land and the ideologies behind colonisation. This presence of colonial toponymy many years after independence is an ironic confirmation of the indelible legacy of British colonialism in Zimbabwe. The findings show a clear recasting of the discourses of violence and racial hostility, but also reveal an interesting trend of toponymic syncretism where colonial names are retained and used together with new names. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)