Metonymic Vehicles in Event Names Found in English Newspapers in Comparison to Korean Newspapers

Abstract

Several researchers have discussed the principles of metonymic vehicle selection, such as HUMAN OVER NON- HUMAN, WHOLE OVER PART, CONCRETE OVER ABSTRACT, and VISIBLE OVER NON-VISIBLE. In order to apply those principles on empirical data, Choi (2020) investigates the frequency of vehicles in event/accident names in Korean newspapers. Among many elements of events, such as AGENT, PATIENT, INSTRUMENT, CAUSE, PLACE and TIME, AGENT is observed as the most frequently used vehicle for whole events in Korean, supporting the HUMAN OVER NON-HUMAN principle. In this paper, event names in English newspapers were similarly analyzed, and these results were compared in an attempt to detect the effects of cultural similarities and differences. Through the comparison of vehicle frequencies, it is revealed in both languages, the four elements, AGENT, PATIENT, PLACE, and CAUSE, are the main elements used as vehicles. Though some differences are detected between the languages, the paper reveals that the principles HUMAN OVER NON-HUMAN and CONCRETE OVER ABSTRACT are confirmed.