Conceptual Metonymy Research Articles

Conceptual Metaphor and Conceptual Metonymy in Korean Sign Language.

Conceptual Metaphor and Conceptual Metonymy in Korean Sign Language.

Conceptualization of HAPPINESS by young native speakers of Kazakh

The present study analyses the way HAPPINESS is contextualized by young native speakers of the Kazakh language who were asked to write an essay on “What is happiness?” The object of the research is definitions given to ‘happiness’ by participants of the experiment in their essays. The analysis showed that the basic criteria of HAPPINESS are related to participants’ families and their close environment. The analysis also revealed that conceptualization of HAPPINESS by respondents is constructed on the basis of conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies, and related concepts. As a result, prototypical cognitive models have been derived as “happiness is being glad” and “happiness is making glad”.

Politically Induced Metonymy in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

The following article attempts to analyse the phenomenon of conceptual metonymy occurring in George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. The analysis involves only a few examples of metonymy related to the conceptual domain of POLITICS. The article postulates that politics, in general, evokes negative associations. Thus, one of the objectives is to verify whether in majority of examples, political activity connotes adverse and unfavourable feelings. Moreover some concepts being part of metonymy have been evaluated according to the way in which they are perceived by English speakers. The article comprises two parts. The theoretical part contains a brief outline of Cognitive Linguistics and metonymy, as well as a short description of political reality in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, which is essential to understand the context of analysed linguistic expressions. The second part involves the analysis proper of the material gathered. Four metonymies describing relations between people and the world in which they live have been formulated and examined.

The cross-cultural analysis of the metaphorical conceptualization of happiness in English and Vietnamese

This paper, based on the idiomatic expressions, examines the metaphoric conceptualization of happiness in English and Vietnamese and brings insights into the relevant cross-linguistic and cross-cultural similarities and dissimilarities in the articulation of happiness. The discussion falls into two categories: conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor of happiness. The former involves physiological, expressive, and behavioural responses of happiness. These are regarded as metonymies in a sense that there is a ‘stand-for’ relationship between the responses and the emotion of happiness as the whole (i.e., the part stands for the whole) (Kövecses, 2000, 2008). The latter involves the metaphorical conceptualization of happiness, in which the abstract concept of happiness as target domain is structured in terms of a nonabstract domain as a souce domain. The data analysis suggests that metaphors and metonymies involved in the conceptualization of happiness have a strong link not only to physiological, but also to cultural, influences.

A Cognitive Analysis of Epiphany in “Two Gallants” from Dubliners

Epiphany means a sudden manifestation, and in literature, it is related to revelation, clarification, or realization in a vulgarity of speech or of gesture. If epiphany in literature can be instrumental for enlightening readers by giving them a chance to look at something differently, the mechanism of how it works in the reader’s mind can be explored from a cognitive perspective. The basic mechanism of conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy is based on the notion of understanding something in terms of another. A cognitive approach to literary texts not only deals with how readers interact with fiction, but it also deals with how this interaction is possible. By using cognitive tools such as conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and conceptual blending, this study focuses on the epiphanic scenes in the short story “Two Gallants” from Dubliners and aims to show how the characters as ordinary Dubliners, Corley, Lenehan, and a slavey, can stand for the oppressing power, the mimicker of the oppressor, and the slavery in the miserable reality of the colonized Ireland, respectively.

Conceptual metonymies and metaphors behind the Five Phases

This paper is based on an investigation of the Five Phases (五行,wuxing) in traditional Chinese thought within a cognitive linguistic framework. In analyzing three of the five concepts in thewuxingscheme, namely WOOD (木,mu), EARTH (土,tu) and METAL (金,jin), as recorded in ancient and modern Chinese, we attempt to find out (1) the conceptual metonymies and metaphors they have developed, (2) the similarities and differences between the three concepts in ancient and modern Chinese, and (3) the possible reasons for those similarities and differences and the implications they have for ancient and modern Chinese ways of cognizing the world. Our comparative analysis shows that while the semantic networks of the three concepts remain largely consistent from ancient to modern Chinese, those conceptual metaphors which are closely tied to thewuxingscheme are much less active in modern Chinese. On the whole it can be claimed that the ancient Chinese believed in the unity of Heaven and human and constructed the world based on three fundamental conceptual metaphors: “nature operates in accordance withWUXING”, “THE HUMAN BODY OPERATES IN ACCORDANCE WITHWUXING” and “SOCIETY OPERATES IN ACCORDANCE WITHWUXING”. Yet it seems that this belief in the unity of Heaven and human has weakened in the modern Chinese mind and modern Chinese people no longer rely on thewuxingscheme to understand the world.

Metaphoric and Metonymic Conceptualization of LOVE in Indonesian

The present study is aimed at investigating the conceptual metaphors and metonymies contributing to the structure of the LOVE concept in Indonesian, and how are these metaphors and metonymies related to each other through the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff& Johnson, 1980, Lakoff& Turner, 1989, Lakoff, 1993, Kövecses, 2002). In addition to conceptual metaphor, Lakoff&Kövecses (1987), Kövecses (2000, 2006, 2008a&b) claim that conceptual metonymy also plays a significant role in providing the structure of emotional concepts, such as love. The conceptual metaphors that structure to the concept of LOVE in Indonesian are: love is a (hot) fluid in a container; love is a unity of two complementary parts; love is fire; love is insanity; love is a rapture; love are natural and physical forces; love is a social superior; love is an opponent; love is a journey; the object of love is a deity; the object of love is a possession; rational is up; emotional is down, and conscious is up; unconscious is down (in the case of jatuhcinta--falling in love).Looking at the conceptual metonymies for emotions, there are two general types: CAUSE OF EMOTION FOR THE EMOTION and EFFECT OF EMOTION FOR THE EMOTION, with the latter being much more common than the former (Kövecses, 2000, 2008a&b). This common form of metonymy can be categorised into two types of responses: physiological and behavioural responses (Kövecses, 2000, 2008a&b). With respect to the concept of LOVE, an example of the former is BLUSHING STANDS FOR LOVE and the latter is PHYSICAL CLOSENESS STANDS FOR LOVE. There is an important and tight connection between emotion metaphors and metonymies; that is “metonymies can be said to motivate the metaphors”, in the linguistic, conceptual, and physical aspects (Kövecses 2008b:382).

SEX-FOR-GENDER metonymy?

Social constructionists consider gender as socially constructed, fluid and context-specific. An individual can thus behave in ways considered as either masculine or feminine in various contexts, irrespective of their sex. However, speakers of Akan (in Ghana) sometimes talk about people who behave in ways considered as contradictory to sociocultural expectations about gendered behaviour for ‘their sex’ as metonymically having two sexes. In this paper, I discuss three Akan metonymic expressions that exemplify this: Kojo besia (Monday-born male who is also female), ?baa barima (woman-man) and ?baa akok?nini (female-rooster). I argue that such expressions derive from a conceptual metonymy ‘SEX-FOR-GENDER’, and discuss how the analysis of such expressions contributes to theoretical perspectives on gender and language and to our understanding of metonymy. Although the understanding and interpretation of these metonymies appear quite essentialist, I argue that it may also be read as lending some support to the argument by some social constructionists that sex, like gender, is a social construction.

Behold, I am Coming Soon! A Study on the Conceptualization of Sexual Orgasm in 27 Languages

ABSTRACTThis study explores how sexual orgasm is conceptualized in 27 languages and proposes an ideal cognitive model for sexual desire. Specifically, the study has identified that the conceptual metaphors, conceptual metonymies, and related concepts manifested in the terms and announcements for orgasm can be categorized into orgasm as a physiological response, orgasm as a psychological state, and orgasm as an ideal goal. We also observed that languages tend to conceptualize orgasm as a physiological response in the terms for orgasm; whereas more languages are inclined to conceptualize orgasm as an ideal goal in the announcements for orgasm. Depending on whether the focus is on the physiological, psychological, and ideal aspects during sex, native speakers of their various languages may conceptualize orgasm with the conceptual metaphors ORGASM IS A PEAK, ORGASM IS FIRE, ORGASM IS DEATH, ORGASM IS A DESTINATION, and ORGASM IS THE RELEASE OF FORCE/SUBSTANCE IN A CONTAINER; conceptual metonymies (i.e., EXCITEMENT FOR ORGASM, SWELLING FOR ORGASM, and HEAT FOR ORGASM); and related concepts (i.e., (FEELING OF) SATISFACTION and (FEELING OF) PLEASURE). In proposing the ideal cognitive model for sexual desire, the study also suggests that sexual desire is an emotion closely related to love and happiness. The intertwining relationship between the three emotions implies that the experience and satisfaction of sexual desire may be important for maintaining the physiological and psychological wellbeing of an individual as well as the development of healthy and loving sexual/romantic relationships.

The Application of Conceptual Metonymy in Discourse Coherence

<p>The action scenario of speech acts, put forward by Thornburg and Panther (1997) from the perspective of cognition, provides a good rationale for the cognitive function of metonymy. This paper will deal with the important role of metonymy in the generation and interpretation of discourse. The author of this paper is going to try to analyze the explanatory power of metonymy on discourse coherence from these viewpoints.</p>

Contexto, Conhecimento Enciclopédico e a Construção de Inferências Metonímicas e Metafóricas

Resumo: Este artigo faz parte do projeto de pesquisa que tem por objetivo central investigar empiricamente o que a metáfora realmente significa para leitores reais. A investigação tem sido realizada com metodologia interpretativista, tendo como método principal o Pensar Alto em Grupo, que é uma prática dialógica vivenciada por vários grupos de leitores, constituindo, assim, um estudo de caso coletivo. Nos dois estudos de caso realizados, ocorreu uma complexa interação de inferências metonímicas e metafóricas na construção das leituras. Desse achado emergiram novas questões de pesquisa, que serão focalizadas neste trabalho: “Qual o papel dos contextos evocados e dos conhecimentos ativados pelos leitores na construção das inferências metonímicas e metafóricas?”; e “Qual o papel da metonímia conceptual na construção dos sentidos?” Para responder a essas questões, foram analisados e discutidos os dados de um grupo do segundo estudo de caso.

Cognitive model of GHEIRAT in Persian

GHEIRAT seems to be a complex emotion in Iranian men and women with a variety of contextual meanings including, jealousy, chivalry, courage, and protecting one’snâmus‘female family members’. GHEIRAT may be defined as a monitoring device or alarm system in the mind of Iranians. The cognitive linguistic analysis of the conceptual domains interacting with GHEIRAT indicates that the GHEIRAT concept operates to protect one’s values against threat, insult, and injury, provide assistance to the Other, and aid the Self in accomplishing goals as a supplementary force. Moreover, the paper comes to the conclusion that in Iranian culture, the cultural model of GHEIRAT is largely constituted by conceptual metaphors (THE OTHER IS A POTENTIAL OPPONENT, GHEIRAT IS A PHYSICAL SUPPLEMENTARY FORCE), conceptual metonymy (CAUSE FOR EFFECT) and related key concepts (ÂBERU ‘face’, NÂMUS ‘one’s female family members and the sanctity associated with them’, MAHRAMIAT ‘the legitimate physical and emotional intimacy between men and women’). Furthermore, based on Kövecses’s (2000) account of emotion concepts, it is revealed that GHEIRAT fulfills its functions indirectly through acting as a cause for other emotions and feelings such as ANGER, HATRED, JEALOUSY, and SELFLESSNESS.

Semiotic and Cognitive Aspects of Professional Discourse Study

The authors focus on some cognitive and semiotic aspects of professional discourse study. Different approaches towards the definition of professional discourse are highlighted. From the cognitive perspective professional world view is analyzed. It is said that terminology constitutes the core of professional world view; some means of categorization and conceptualization in various types of professional discourse are presented. The role of conceptual metaphor and metonymy as means of world categorization and conceptualization in professional communication is revealed. Describing the structure of professional consciousness the authors suggest an ethnocultural component. The background of semiotic research of professional discourse is analyzed on the level of metalanguage and professional speech communication. The sign character of professional discourse on the metalanguage level is represented by the language for specific purposes. The systematic character of professional speech communication is witnessed in the organization of speech genres, functioning of intertextual incorporations and precedent texts, communicative situations typical for the professional activity, etc. Some perspectives of cognitive and semiotic approach towards professional discourse study are suggested. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p30

Linguistic and Cognitive Characteristics of the Composition of the Text of J.K. Rowling's English Tales

This article focuses on linguistic and cognitive characteristics inherent in the composition of the English postmodern tales written by J.K. Rowling. The composition of the text is viewed as linguistic and cognitive construal that integrates compositional plot structure, compositional meaning structure, linguistic and stylistic means of their actualization in the text. The content of the text is organized as a specific configuration of compositional plot blocks reflecting similar topics of textual situations. The coherence and cohesion of compositional plot blocks are provided by the compositional devices which perform text building and text forming functions. Compositional meaning structure is revealed via reconstruction of the conceptual metaphoric and metonymic schemas embodied in compositional plot blocks. The key meaning is represented by the megametaphor LIFE IS THE CHOICE OF A PATH, which in the text unfolds into a number of conceptual metaphors and metonymies. The peculiarities of representation of compositional plot structure and compositional meaning structure are explained through the analysis of corresponding linguistic and stylistic means and types of narration. Keywords : Composition, Linguo-cognitive construal, Compositional plot structure, Compositional meaning structure, Compositional plot blocks, Conceptual megametaphor

The Translation of Metonymic Expressions From English to Korean : An Analysis Using Conceptual Metonymy Theory

While there has been considerable discussion of metaphors within translation studies, relatively few studies have systematically investigated how metonymy is translated. This study attempted to fill this research gap through Conceptual Metonymy Theory, developed by cognitive linguists. Based on the conceptual metonymies listed in Kovecses (2002, 2010), this study examined metonymic expressions in an English political text (Niall Ferguson’s Civilization: The West and the Rest) and the corresponding text translated into Korean. Thirty metonymic expressions were identified, which were all instantiations of the conceptual metonymies that were present in both languages. A comparative analysis of the source texts (STs) and the target texts (TTs) revealed literal translation (43.3%) to be the most common method used. The conceptual metonymy was identical in the ST and TT, and the metonymic expression in the ST was rendered in the same way in the TT. Other methods of translation included deletion of the metonymy (36.7%), replacement of the metonymic expression in the ST with another expression in the TT while preserving the same conceptual metonymy (13.3%), and addition of a metonymy in the TT (6.7%). The importance of accessing conceptual metonymies through translation is discussed with respect to its implications for English language teaching.

<p>CAUSAL CONSTRUCTIONS WITH AN ADJECTIVE IN GERMAN AND FRENCH: TYPOLOGICAL AND<br> PEDAGOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS</p>

The study will explore the variety of causal constructions with an adjective in French and German, as they are realized in French Pierre est rouge de colere (‘Peter is red with anger’), German Maria ist gelb vor Eifersucht (‘Maria is yellow with jealousy’), French Il est fou d’amour (lit. ‘He is crazy of love’), French Anne est morte de faim (lit. ‘Anne is dead of hunger’). First, the different elements of the construction will be described in detail in the framework of Goldberg’s Construction Grammar model (1995 and 2006) and of different phraseological studies (Burger 2007, Dobrovol‘skij 2011, Donalies 2009, and Fleischer 1997). As we will see, one and the same syntactic structure can convey different meanings (also a non-causal meaning) with different degrees of idiomaticity, which leads us to classify the different examples as a continuum between Construction Grammar and Phraseology. In a contrastive approach, the study further highlights the typological differences in the causal construction between the Germanic language German and the Romance language French. These differences can lead to difficulties for French-speaking learners of German. The study proposes some teaching strategies to facilitate the learning of such causal constructions with an adjective. We will advocate a teaching methodology which privileges holistic sequences or so-called ‘chunks’ (Handwerker 2008) and which further focuses on the typological differences in the lexicalization patterns (e.g. different prepositions in German, different colour terms,…), but also on conceptual metaphor and metonymy (Barcelona 2001; Lakoff & Johnson 1980; Niemeier 1998). This will help foreign learners to ‘rethink for speaking’ (Ellis and Cadierno 2009: 123) in the foreign language.

On Blends and Abstractions: Children's Literature and the Mechanisms of Holocaust Representation

Critics have long since noted that children's literature of the Holocaust is caught between two binary oppositions: it must offer an emphatic didactic message whilst simultaneously providing an appropriate ‘safe’ distance between the implied reader and the atrocities committed. The result is that texts of this kind frequently consign the most brutal aspects of the story to the periphery of the narrative as a lack and the true horror of the Holocaust is reified in more conceptual forms. In other words, that which is said may be explained by that which is not said. Taking cognitive poetics as my methodological approach, I attempt to illustrate the ways in which the said/not-said binary can be usefully manipulated as a means of facilitating the requirements for both didacticism and appropriate suitability simultaneously. Through an examination of the uses of conceptual integration and metonymy, I demonstrate the power of – and issues surrounding – silence as a means of representation in itself.

TU ‘Earth’ in Five-Elements Theory: From the Perspective of Conceptual Metonymies and Metaphors

Metonymy and metaphor, two important concepts of cognitive linguistics, have been studied for a long time. They are the way people cognitive the world. However, how they work in Chinese language? How they work in Chinese Five Element Theory? Few people have done those studies. This paper is studying one of the Five-elements theory TU “Earth” from the perspective of conceptual metonymy and metaphor.

‘Author (date)’ constructions in academic discourse

This article elucidates the semantics and pragmatics of a genre-specific nominal pattern with a definite referring function, the ‘Author (date)’ construction, which is widely used in scientific discourse. We investigate the conceptual structure and pragmatic use of this construction in terms of conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor theory. The construction exhibits three senses: a literal ‘author’, a metonymic ‘work’, and a metaphorized ‘human agent’ sense (personification). Contextual factors that enable, coerce, or preempt the occurrence of these meanings are identified by means of various grammatical and semantic-pragmatic parameters, such as number agreement, anaphoric constraints, and the meaning of verbs collocating with the construction. Finally, the implications of our theoretical findings for the teaching and learning of academic discourse are considered. Keywords: conceptual metonymy; conceptual metaphor; genre-specific construction; personification; teaching and learning of academic discourse

Cultural-historical psychology and the cognitive view of metonymy and metaphor

Metonymy and metaphor are commonly taken as cognitive phenomena in modern cognitive linguistics rather than as mere figures of speech. However, the correct cognitive demarcation between metonymy and metaphor is the subject of intense debate; there are also different attitudes to the cognitive basis of metonymy. The main contribution of this paper is to identify the cognitive mechanism called complex thinking, which is well-known in psychology but hardly applied in linguistics, as the cognitive basis for metonymy; the difference between complex and conceptual thinking is also highlighted in order to distinguish between conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor. Using a cultural-historical approach, we can conjecture that metonymy dominates in pre-theoretical cultures, whereas metaphor emerges in theoretical cultures alongside abstract conceptual domains. In order to illustrate these points with a brief case study, the semantic evolution of the ancient Greek word Ûlh (matter) is considered.