Abstract
This paper attempts to shed some light on the problem of correlation of such ontological categories as quality, quantity and relation in similes. The matter in question is significant since it relates to the problem of anthropocentrism in language. It shows the speaker’s attitude to the information encoded in a simile by consciously choosing a vehicle via measuring a tenor’s salient feature against an implied abstract scale of objects, notions, phenomena, etc. that possess a particular quality to a certain extent. The nature of the ground of simile is described to be gradable, capable of being subjectively measured from the perspective of the speaker’s environmental perception. The gradability of a shared feature shown as a scale of potential vehicles lends itself to the interpretation as a fragment of the linguistic worldview displaying a range of scale markers typical of a certain linguistic community in a certain historical period of time. The polar opposite notions on an implied scale are depicted to represent a (proto/stereo) type and an anti-(proto/stereo)type typical of certain linguo-cultural domains in a particular fragment of a linguistic worldview. By moving from the explanatory examples to the analysis of empirical material the author concludes that the categories of quantity, quality and relation are intrinsic in every simile and manifest themselves in the choice of a tenor-vehicle pair that do not exist within simile other than in relation to each-other. The material described in the article serves as an evidence of language dependence on historical and social parameters. The paper explains the mechanism of creation of the congruous and ironic similes according to the universal process of simile formation where the unity of quantity, quality and relation are the key factors of its existence.
Highlights
It has been many centuries since the ten fundamental ontological categories, among which quality, quantity and relation being significant, were singled out by Aristotle to be interpreted by numerous philosophers, and by many linguists who understood that language and speech are the reflection of all social processes displaying the societal development
The aim of this paper is to show that a tight connection between quality, quantity and relation reveals itself in the gradable nature of a salient feature of a simile
I distinguish between a prototype and a stereotype asserting that both of them can be the tools for the creation of similes
Summary
It has been many centuries since the ten fundamental ontological categories, among which quality, quantity and relation being significant, were singled out by Aristotle to be interpreted by numerous philosophers, and by many linguists who understood that language and speech are the reflection of all social processes displaying the societal development. This article is an attempt to explicate connections between quality, quantity and relation to a linguistic dimension of simile putting forward several stimulating ideas regarding the principles of the choice of vehicle. The hypothesis of the research is that simile represents the dialectal unity of the three ontological categories that manifest themselves in the preference of a tenor-vehicle co-selection. I support my hypothesis with the help of some straightforward simile examples and the one taken from the earlier period of English showing that the preference of a tenor-vehicle co-selection depends on historical and social parameters. I highlight the mechanism of an ironic simile creation
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