Research on spatial pattern and formation mechanism of Yunnan’s traditional village toponymic cultural heritage

Focusing on the traditional village toponyms in Yunnan Province, using semantic analysis for classification and techniques like kernel density and standard distance ellipse to visualize spatial distribution, temporal changes, and ethnic makeup, thereby exploring the generation mechanism of traditional village toponyms. The findings: (1) The cultural heritage of natural toponyms slightly exceeds that of cultural ones, with landscape and emotional expression categories holding the highest proportion. (2) With the increase of villages, there are evident developmental changes in toponyms, with distinct characteristics of various ethnic groups. (3) Analysis of the causes reveals that villagers shaped different categories of toponyms’ cultural heritage due to environmental orientation, identity, belief, ancestral lineage, environmental modification, and political power. Traditional village toponyms reflect the influence of cultural integration in the multi-ethnic regions of Yunnan on heritage formation. This research can provide a scientific basis for efforts to protect the diversity of intangible heritage of toponyms.