Methods of encoding a proper name (based on the material of L. Carroll’s acrostics)

This study is aimed at analyzing the methods of encoding proper names in works of fiction, particularly in English-language poetry. The aim of the research is the identification of means and functions of encoding a proper name in poetry as a text-forming device of language play. The article examines language play, where signs are consciously subjected to transformations, the object of which is their sound or word-formation form. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the work for the first time systematizes various means and functions of encoding a character’s name, conducts their comparison based on the material of L. Carroll’s acrostics. As a result of the research, it has been established that a poetic text is graphically marked in comparison with other types of texts, various means of encoding a proper name in L. Carroll’s poetry are identified, and the functions of the name-cipher in L. Carroll’s poems are described. It can be concluded that, focusing on the “ideal” attentive reader-interpreter, capable of searching for and deciphering marked and unmarked modifications of the heroes’ names, L. Carroll not only experiments with language but also conducts a literary game with the reader.