Metonymy.docx

Metonymy.docx

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Metonymy

Metonymy

FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inrhetoric,metonymy（IPA:

/mɨˈtɒnɨmi/）istheuseofawordforaconceptorobjectassociatedwiththeconcept/objectoriginallydenotedbytheword.

Metonymymaybeinstructivelycontrastedwithmetaphor.Bothfiguresinvolvethesubstitutionofonetermforanother.Inmetaphor,thissubstitutionisbasedonsimilarity,whileinmetonymy,thesubstitutionisbasedoncontiguity.

Metaphorexample:

Thatmanisapig（usingpiginsteadofunhygienicperson.Anunhygienicpersonislikeapig,butthereisnocontiguitybetweenthetwo）.

Metonymyexample:

TheWhiteHousesupportsthebill（usingWhiteHouseinsteadofPresident.ThePresidentisnotliketheWhiteHouse,butthereiscontiguitybetweenthem）.Itusescloselyrelatedsubjects

Incognitivelinguistics,metonymyreferstotheuseofasinglecharacteristictoidentifyamorecomplexentityandisoneofthebasiccharacteristicsofcognition.Itiscommonforpeopletotakeonewell-understoodoreasy-to-perceiveaspectofsomethingandusethataspecttostandeitherforthethingasawholeorforsomeotheraspectorpartofit.

Metonymyisattestedincognitiveprocessesunderlyinglanguage（e.g.theinfant'sassociationofthenipplewithmilk）.Objectsthatappearstronglyinasinglecontextemergeascognitivelabelsforthewholeconcept,thusfuelinglinguisticlabelssuchas"sweat"torefertohardworkthatmightproduceit.

ThewordmetonymyisderivedfromtheGreekμετωνυμία（metōnymia）"achangeofname",fromμετά-（meta-）"beyond/changed"and-ωνυμία（-onymia）,asuffixusedtonamefiguresofspeech,fromὄνομα（onoma）,"name"（OED））.

Metonymycomparedtometaphorincognitivescienceandlinguistics

Metaphorandmetonymyarebothfiguresofspeechwhereonewordmaybeusedinplaceofanother.However,especiallyincognitivescienceandlinguistics,thetwofiguresofspeechworkverydifferently.RomanJakobsonarguedthattheyrepresenttwofundamentallydifferentwaysofprocessinglanguage;henotedthatdifferentformsofaphasiaaffectedtheabilitytointerpretthetwofiguresdifferently（Jakobson,Roman（2002）,"TwoAspectsofLanguageandTwoTypesofDisturbances",writtenatCambridge,MA,inLindaWaughandMoniqueMonville-Burston,OnLanguage,HarvardUniversityPress,

//www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/JAKONL.html?

show=catalogcopy>）.

Metonymyworksbythecontiguity（association）betweentwoconcepts,whereasmetaphorworksbythesimilaritybetweenthem.Whenpeopleusemetonymy,theydonottypicallywishtotransferqualitiesfromonereferenttoanotherastheydowithmetaphor:

thereisnothingpress-likeaboutreportersorcrown-likeaboutamonarch,but"thepress"and"thecrown"arebothcommonmetonyms.

Twoexamplesusingtheterm"fishing"helpmakethedistinctionbetter（exampledrawnfromDirven,1996）.Thephrase"tofishpearls"usesmetonymy,drawingfrom"fishing"theideaoftakingthingsfromtheocean.Whatiscarriedacrossfrom"fishingfish"to"fishingpearls"isthedomainofusageandtheassociationswiththeoceanandboats,butweunderstandthephraseinspiteofratherthanbecauseoftheliteralmeaningoffishing:

weknowyoudonotuseafishingrodornettogetpearlsandweknowthatpearlsarenot,anddonotoriginatefrom,fish.

Incontrast,themetaphoricalphrase"fishingforinformation",transferstheconceptoffishingintoanewdomain.Ifsomeoneis"fishing"forinformation,wedonotimaginethatheorsheisanywhereneartheocean,ratherwetransferelementsoftheactionoffishing（waiting,hopingtocatchsomethingthatcannotbeseen）intoanewdomain（aconversation）.Thus,metonymyworksbycallingupadomainofusageandanarrayofassociations（intheexampleabove,boats,theocean,gatheringlifefromthesea）whereasmetaphorpicksatargetsetofmeaningsandtransfersthemtoanewdomainofusage.

Example:

"Lendmeyourear"

Sometimes,metaphorandmetonymycanbothbeatworkinthesamefigureofspeech,oronecouldinterpretaphrasemetaphoricallyormetonymically.Forexample,thephrase"lendmeyourear"couldbeanalyzedinanumberofways.Wecouldimaginethefollowinginterpretations:

1.Metonymyonly:

Analyze"ear"metonymicallyfirst—"ear"means"attention"（becauseweuseearstopayattentiontosomeone'sspeech）.Nowwhenwehearthephrase"lendingear（attention）",westretchthebasemeaningof"lend"（toletsomeoneborrowanobject）toincludethe"lending"ofnon-materialthings（attention）,butbeyondthisslightextensionoftheverb,nometaphorisatwork.

2.Metaphoronly:

Imaginethewholephraseliterally—imaginethatthespeakerliterallyborrowsthelistener'searasaphysicalobject（andpresumablytheperson'sheadwithit）.Thenthespeakerhastemporarypossessionofthelistener'sear,sothelistenerhasgrantedthespeakertemporarycontroloverwhatthelistenerhears.Wetheninterpretthephrase"lendmeyourear"metaphoricallytomeanthatthespeakerwantsthelistenertograntthespeakertemporarycontroloverwhatthelistenerhears.

3.Metaphorandmetonymy:

First,analyzetheverbphrase"lendmeyourear"metaphoricallytomean"turnyourearinmydirection,"sinceweknowthatliterallylendingabodyisnonsensical.Then,analyzethemotionofearsmetonymically—weassociate"turningears"with"payingattention",whichiswhatthespeakerwantsthelistenerstodo.

Itisdifficulttosaywhichoftheaboveanalysesmostcloselyrepresentsthewayalistenerinterpretstheexpression,anditispossiblethatthephraseisanalysedindifferentwaysbydifferentlisteners,orevenbyoneandthesamelisteneratdifferenttimes.Regardless,allthreeanalysesyieldthesameinterpretation;thus,metaphorandmetonymy,thoughquitedifferentintheirmechanism,canworktogetherseamlessly.Forfurtheranalysisofidiomsinwhichmetaphorandmetonymyworktogether,includinganexampleverysimilartotheonegivenhere,seeGeeraerts,Dirk（2002）,"Theinteractionofmetaphorandmetonymyincompositeexpressions",writtenatBerlin,inRenéDirven&RalfPörings,MetaphorandMetonymyinContrast,MoutondeGruyter,

Metonymyinpolysemy

Theconceptofmetonymyalsoinformsthenatureofpolysemy—i.e.howthesamephonologicalform（word）hasdifferentsemanticmappings（meanings）.Ifthetwomeaningsareunrelated,asinthewordpenmeaningwritinginstrumentversusenclosure,theyareconsideredhomonyms.

Withinlogicalpolysemies,alargeclassofmappingscanbeconsideredtobeacaseofmetonymictransfer（e.g.chickenfortheanimal,aswellasitsmeat;crownfortheobject,aswellastheinstitution）.Othercaseswherethemeaningispolysemoushowever,mayturnouttobemoremetaphorical,e.g.eyeasintheeyeoftheneedle.

Metonymyasarhetoricalstrategy

Metonymycanalsorefertotherhetoricalstrategyofdescribingsomethingindirectlybyreferringtothingsaroundit.Forexample,inJaneAusten'snovelPrideandPrejudice,themaincharacterElizabeth'schangeofheartandloveforhersuitor,Mr.Darcy,isfirstrevealedwhensheseeshishouse:

Theygraduallyascendedforhalf-a-mile,andthenfoundthemselvesatthetopofaconsiderableeminence,wherethewoodceased,andtheeyewasinstantlycaughtbyPemberleyHouse,situatedontheoppositesideofavalley,intowhichtheroadwithsomeabruptnesswound.Itwasalarge,handsomestonebuilding,standingwellonrisingground,andbackedbyaridgeofhighwoodyhills;andinfront,astreamofsomenaturalimportancewasswelledintogreater,butwithoutanyartificialappearance.Itsbankswereneitherformalnorfalselyadorned.Elizabethwasdelighted.Shehadneverseenaplaceforwhichnaturehaddonemore,orwherenaturalbeautyhadbeensolittlecounteractedbyanawkwardtaste.JaneAusten,PrideandPrejudice,Chapter43.

AustendescribesthehouseandElizabeth'sadmirationfortheestateatlengthasanindirectwayofdescribingherfeelingsforMr.Darcyhimself.Onecouldattempttoreadthisasanextendedmetaphor,butsuchareadingwouldbreakdownasonetriedtofindawaytomaptheelementsofherdescription（risingground,swollenriver）directlytoattributesofhersuitor.Furthermore,anextendedmetaphortypicallyhighlightstheauthor'singenuitybymaintaininganunlikelysimilaritytoanunusualdegreeofdetail.

Inthisdescription,ontheotherhand,althoughtherearemanyelementsofthedescriptionthatwecouldtransferdirectlyfromthegroundstothesuitor（naturalbeauty,lackofartifice）,Austenisemphasizingtheconsistencyofthedomainofusageratherthanstretchingtomakeafreshcomparison:

eachofthethingsshedescribessheassociateswithDarcy,andintheendwefeelthatDarcyisasbeautifulastheplacetowhichheiscomparedandthathebelongswithinit.Metonymyofthiskindthushelpsdefineapersonorthingthroughasetofmutuallyreinforcingassociationsratherthanthroughacomparison.Advertisingfrequentlyusesthiskindofmetonymy,puttingaproductincloseproximitytosomethingdesirableinordertomakeanindirectassociationthatwouldseemcrassifmadewithadirectcomparison.

Metonymyandsynecdoche

Synecdoche,whereaspecificpartofsomethingisusedtorefertothewhole,isusuallyunderstoodasaspecifickindofmetonymy.Sometimes,however,peoplemakeanabsolutedistinctionbetweenametonymyandasynecdoche,treatingmetonymyasdifferentfromratherthaninclusiveofsynecdoche.Thereisasimilarproblemwiththeusageofsimileandmetaphor.

Whenthedistinct