Role Of Metonymy Research Articles

The Role of Metonymy in Shaping the Advertising Worldview (Based on the Appliance and Electronics Advertisements)

This article explores the use of metonymy in advertising discourse through a detailed analysis of slogans in appliance and electronics advertisements. The influence of metonymy on one’s worldview in the context of commercial advertising was studied based on its contribution to the construction of the images of the object (product or service), subject (seller or manufacturer), and addressee (consumer), as well as to the development of connections between these three elements. The value and relevance of the research lie in the fact that advertising broadcasts ideas about reality and has the potential to influence the consumer’s mindset and behavior. This supports the concept of advertising worldview. It is also important to perceive metonymy as a linguistic and cognitive tool, yet in advertising discourse it is often viewed as a trope. The dynamics of the advertising situation can be defined as follows: the manufacturer/seller offers a solution to the consumer’s problems and promises them joy in the final result, with the product or service acting as a tool to achieve the desired outcome. A number of examples were provided to show that the knowledge about the components of the advertising situation is arranged in the categories of different conceptual structures which determine the type of metonymic transfer. In appliance advertisements, the most frequent metonymic models were found to be as follows: the product’s quality–the product, the result of using the product–the tool employed to achieve the result, describing the situation through the nomination of the stage of turning on the device or achieving the result. It was concluded that metonymy emphasizes the most important characteristics of the product and its role in human life, not only as a problem-solving tool but also as a source of positive emotions and joy, as well as a symbol of a certain lifestyle. Therefore, the metonymic approach is effective in fitting the product into the everyday life of the consumer with respect to their system of values.

Persian noun-noun nominal compounds: metonymy and conceptual blending

The current study seeks to clarify various ways in which metonymy can affect the meaning of Persian noun-noun nominal compounds. An analysis of 280 endo- and exocentric Persian noun-noun nominal compounds reveals that as far as the role of metonymy in the construction of meaning is concerned, this cognitive mechanism can affect the meaning of Persian nominal compounds in four ways as follows: a) metonymical modifier, b) metonymical head, c) metonymical head and modifier, and d) metonymic nominal compounds as a whole. While the pattern of metonymical modifier only affects the meaning of endocentric compounds, the other three patterns function in the meaning of exocentric compounds. This study substantiates Brdar and Brdar-Szabo’s (2013) and Brdar’s (2017) assertion that metonymy may either act upon the constituents of the compound, i.e., before compounding (the first, second, and third pattern), or the compound as a whole, i.e., after the combination of constituents (the fourth pattern). It is also argued that the metonymical relationship between head and modifier cannot be regarded as a pattern. If such an argument was plausible, non-figurative endocentric compounds would also be metonymical and compounding would basically require the functioning of metonymy.

The role of metonymy in naming

Abstract The article deals with the role of metonymy in word-formation, specifically in naming extra-linguistic concepts. Its role is approached from an onomasiological perspective, i.e., the starting point in the analysis is the concept to be named. Within this approach, metonymy is seen as a cognitive process (in the dynamic sense) that is inherent in the act of coining any naming unit irrespective of its resulting form, as metonymy provides the perspective from which the concept is mentally accessed, and the morphological form is an outcome of the subsequent matching of the result of conceptualisation with a suitable constructional schema. This understanding of metonymy, however, does not lead to an unrestricted application of the term. The article suggests that if a consistent view of metonymy in coining words is applied, any formal restrictions on its use turn out to be irrelevant.

Metonymy and the polysemy ofCovidin Italian

AbstractAmong the linguistic consequences of the current pandemic, we focus on the usage of the lexemeCovid(-19)in Italian, both in the language of the daily press and in institutional/technical language. More specifically, we analyze the range of its polysemy and the role of metonymy in the semantic shifts that have produced it. The salience of the highly infectious pathogen, which also prompted its metaphorical reconceptualization, triggered the first extension of the term, originally denoting the disease, to predominantly denote the virus that causes it. This has also resulted in an almost complete shift of grammatical gender from feminine to masculine. Beside the primary metonymic shift,Covid(-19)developed a variety of further meanings which highlight different components of the emergingcovid frame. The linguistic data are drawn fromLa Repubblica, a daily general-interest newspaper, and from a selection of texts by major governmental and health institutions.

The Role of Metonymy in Teaching the Spanish Verbal System to L2/FL Learners of Spanish

This paper explores the application of conceptual metonymy (Lakoff, 1987; Ruiz de Mendoza, 2000; Langacker, 2009; Panther, Thornburg and Barcelona, 2009; Barcelona, 2013) in the development of pedagogical resources for the teaching of the Spanish verbal system to L2/FL learners. To this end, a description is given of the advantages of introducing inferential reasoning using metonymy based on certain principles taken from the Cognitive Grammar model (Langacker, 1987, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2009) in grammar teaching materials — both descriptions and activities. We focus on tense uses that involve metonymic processes, particularly, the meaning extensions in two Spanish past tenses: (1) the actional meaning of stative verbs when conveyed in pretérito indefinido (preterit), as in Pudimos comprar la casa 'We could buy the house', metonymically extended to Compramos la casa 'We bought the house'; and (2) the distancing use (uso citativo) of pretérito imperfecto (imperfect) when referring to current facts, as in ¿Cómo te llamabas? (How PRO.REFL.2SG call.IPFV.PST.2SG?) 'What was your name again?', which is metonymically extended to (Se me ha dicho/No recuerdo/No he oído) cómo te llamas [('I have been told/I can't recall/I couldn't hear') how PRO.REFL.2SG call.PRES.2SG]. In order to discuss the kind of contribution that this conceptual standpoint can make to the teaching of the Spanish verbal system, the pedagogical potential of some techniques and resources is explored in terms of (a) metonymic and metaphorical reasoning in pedagogical grammar descriptions, (b) consciousness-raising paraphrase exercises focused on meaning indeterminacy, and (c) network building and the use of (dynamic) images to show variable construals in grammatical meaning

Walking Gastrolinguistic Landscapes, with Metonymy as a Travel-guide

The present article is concerned with the role of metonymy in gastrolinguistic landscape, specifically with its role in creating a message for guests in the names of restaurants. Linguistic landscape is a relatively novel concept in contemporary linguistics, its methodology still in the flux, while its topics and approaches keep diversifying. The purpose of this article is to show that there is also a very important cognitive linguistic aspect to it. Specifically, the article points out the role of metonymy in creative examples of restaurant names that contain one or more elements from a language different from the rest of the restaurant name, focusing on the gastrolinguistic landscape of Central and Eastern Europe, primarily Croatia and Hungary. It is demonstrated that that in addition to some more general cultural models of language, speakers also have a multitude of specific folk models of particular languages, mostly based on stereotypes, which in turn are also metonymic. These activate a series of metonymic inferencing steps most of the time resulting in complex cumulative metonymies such that one is superimposed on the other, the target of one simultaneously functioning as the source for the next one, and so forth.

Conversion as metonymy

This paper considers the notion that conversion should be viewed as being metonymical, which is well-established in Cognitive Linguistics. Against the background of the wider discussion of metonymy in word-formation, criteria for distinguishing derivation from figurative extension are proposed, criteria which support the notion of conversion as being metonymical, despite the fact that change from one lexeme to another is not typical of figurative readings. Such a conclusion raises other questions about the role of metonymy in word-formation.

Metonymy in numerals

AbstractBy adopting a synchronic/diachronic perspective, the study addresses the role of metonymy in the representation of numerical quantity. This can be observed in: (a) the motivation relating individual numeral forms, as well as the internal organization of the whole numeral sequence, to non-numeric entities involved in actual quantifying procedures; (b) the phenomenon by which certain salient numerosities function asreference points(Langacker, 1993) for other numerical representations within the functional/conceptual domain (Barcelona, 2011) of numerical quantity. First, a metonymic interpretation of a small group of numerals from different linguistic areas is proposed. Subsequently, the study focuses on a class of collective numerals in contemporary standard Italian that are derived from cardinals by means of affixation with-ino. The analysis of these word formations is aimed at demonstrating that metonymic mapping is a prerequisite for derivation, and that the mapping is based on privileged conceptual/pragmatic functions within the domain ofnumerosity.

A metonímia na interpretação de unidades lexicais neológicas

Este trabalho visa discutir o papel da metonímia na interpretação de unidades lexicais neológicas formadas por sufixação. São apresentados adjetivos e verbos neológicos coletados na imprensa escrita brasileira, os quais são classificados quanto aos padrões metonímicos presentes em seu significado. A metonímia é analisada como um processo que relaciona o significado linguístico com o conhecimento extralinguístico do falante. Os dados aqui apresentados corroboram outros estudos sobre o tema, em especial Basilio (2007, 2011).

Metonymy revisited: Towards a new relevance-theoretic account

AbstractMetonymy is a pervasive aspect of spontaneous as well as reflective linguistic performance and its cognitive and communicative role needs to be adequately attended to. The paper aims to offer a new model of metonymy grounded in the relevance-theoretic approach to communication, adopting the view that all comprehension is underlain by inferential processes. First, we present a critical overview of selected existing accounts of metonymy put forward by cognitive linguists, arguing that although they offer valuable observations about the role of metonymy in online meaning construction and bring to light a varied spectrum of different types of metonymic conceptualizations, cognitive linguistic analyses fall some way short of offering a convincing rationale for metonymic uses in verbal communication and do not articulate a psychologically plausible and testable principle that would explain why metonymy arises and how the intended meaning is inferred in context by the recipient. We also critically address the existing relevance-theoretic models, which, while offering a cognitively motivated account of metonymy, likewise suffer from certain inadequacies. In an attempt to remedy these shortcomings, we develop a fully inferential relevance-theoretic account, which assumes that metonymy is a case of tagging the intended referent by a concept literally denoted by the metonymic expression. The real-world contiguity which underlies metonymic usage is postulated to be encapsulated in mental schemas that are indexed by the concept that the metonymic word or phrase provides access to.

Bringing concepts from cognitive linguistics into the analysis of policies and the political

The articles in this special issue all seek to highlight the ways in which concepts from linguistics can enlighten analyses of policies and the political. In this commentary, I seek to situate some of the central concepts that have been employed in terms of their treatment in cognitive linguistics. The first part of this commentary focuses on metaphor — a construct that receives explicit analysis in these works as it is a fundamental tool we use for thinking about and expressing abstract concepts. The discussion then turns to a topic underpinning all of these studies, even while remaining implicit in them, namely metonymy: the mention of a part to stand for a whole, a whole for a part, and other relations of association. This section considers the important role of metonymy in providing a compact means for politicians, policy-makers, and/or average citizens to make reference to, and reason about, complex topics. At the same time, metonymy also carries the risk of reflecting, or inducing, unwarranted logical inferences. The third topic taken up here is categories; key issues considered are the variety of structures that categories can manifest and how these structures are pertinent in different ways in differing contexts, including classical categories that metaphorically function like containers, vs prototype categories with fuzzy boundaries. Employing these approaches in the analysis of policies and the political therefore involves not only a linguistic turn, but also a cognitive one.

The Role of Metonymy in Collocational Choice

The Role of Metonymy in Collocational Choice

The Role of Metonymy in the Formation of Euphemism in Chinese and English

Euphemism is a widespread language phenomenon and indispensable lubricant in language communication. It is an expression, which can show politeness, ease the tone and coordinate the personal relationships. It can be found out that many English and Chinese euphemisms are generated in the framework of conceptual metonymy in daily life. The study of euphemisms from the perspective of cognitive metonymy enjoys its significance in language learning, cross-cultural communication and translation of euphemisms.

The Role of Metonymy and Metaphor in Grammaticalization: The Expression of Aspect

In this paper, I discuss the operation of metonymy and the interaction of metaphor and metonymy in the grammaticalization of prepositions into prefixes. The metonymic shift that allows the integration of the prefix with the base can take place directly in cases in which both elements share the same domain. When two different domains are involved, the previous operation of a metaphor that neutralizes ontological differences between domains is required. To examine the metonymic and metaphoric operations, I take two Polish prepositions (na ‘on’ and do ‘to’) that have become prefixes and have changed the meaning of two specific verbs to which they have been attached, pakować ‘put things into a container’ and myśleć ‘think’, respectively. The first verb belongs to the domain of physical space, while the second does not. The analysis is conducted within the framework of Cognitive Grammar, which takes the view that all grammatical elements in language are meaningful and that they impose and symbolize particular ways of construing conceptual content. This paper shows that this is particularly evident in processes of grammaticalization of prepositions into prefixes.

The role of metonymy in the interpretation of Korean multiple subject constructions

This article argues that diverse Korean multiple subject constructions are uniformly explained by two well-known notions in cognitive linguistics: metonymy and domain highlighting. While there is no consensus on the semantic interpretation of Korean multiple subject constructions, the discussion thereof is still a popular topic. Nonetheless, many previous approaches that deal with the semantic interpretations of the constructions in Korean are based on several fixed categorizations of semantic interpretations, such as POSSESSION and PART-WHOLE. These approaches fail to capture the flexibility of the constructions that exhibit various types of semantic interpretations. Divergent from the previous approaches, I argue that the flexibility of the semantic interpretations of these constructions is deeply rooted in their metonymic nature. I further argue that, when coupled with the notion of domain highlighting, my approach sheds light on the nature of these constructions with powerful generalizations. In providing the detailed mechanism of my analysis, I adopt Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar in that the notion of reference point (and metonymy) is technically well-articulated in the aforementioned framework.

Metonymy of Aspect/Aspects of Metonymy

Ever since Lakoff and Johnson (1980) published their seminal monograph Metaphors We Live By, metaphor has been a cornerstone in cognitive linguistics, while metonymy has received less attention. However, recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in metonymy (Peirsman and Geeraerts 2006 and Croft 2006), and it is therefore natural to ask what the role of metonymy is in grammatical systems and how metonymy interacts with metaphor in such systems. The present paper sheds light on these questions on the basis of an analysis of Russian aspect, which Janda (2004 and 2007) has analyzed in terms of metaphor. I argue that metonymy relates the submeanings of the perfective aspect (section 3), that metonymy is pivotal in the relations among submeanings of the imperfective aspect (section 4), and - following Janda (2008) - that the relations between imperfective and perfective verbs involve metonymy (section 5). I propose that metaphor and metonymy are complementary in the Russian aspectual system; metaphor relates events to matter (objects and substances), while metonymy connects different types of events to each other (section 6). Before we turn to metonymy and its interaction with metaphor, it is necessary to define metaphor and metonymy and clarify the role of metaphor in Russian aspect (sections 1 and 2).

Metaphor and metonymy in word formation

This work investigates the relevance of analogy, metonymy and metaphor in word formation patterns and their products. Initially, the semantic side of proportional analogy in morphological restructuring is analyzed. The work then concentrates on the role of metonymy in the formation of instrumentals and agent nouns. The last part of the work is dedicated to the role of metaphor in compounding. The main point of the paper is to show how metaphor is fundamental to the constitution of the lexicon and, consequently, how unfortunate for the discussion of metaphor in language is the relative disregard to word-formation processes.

Places and Spaces: The Role of Metonymy in Organizational Talk

abstract Cultural meaning making as reflected in, and constituted by, organizational talk is an established field of interest in organizational analysis. However, the discursive mechanics of the process whereby this cultural meaning making is created and maintained are less well understood. The premise of this paper is that taken‐for‐granted assumptions embedded in organizational talk can be explored through the analysis of metonymy, a trope which is under explored in the linguistic turn in organization studies. This lack of focus on metonymy is, we believe, related to the fundamentally conventional nature of the trope in use, which expresses ideas, values and relationships that seem natural, normal and routine but which are culturally bound. We address this gap and carry out a metonymical analysis of organizational talk about physical places and spaces in one organization, to show how cultural norms and meanings are reflected, maintained, and potentially changed in these figures of speech. We show how metonymic chains based on buildings can reflect, reify and simplify the symbolic order of the organization, how these symbolic meanings can be transferred on to other inanimate objects and the constructions thereby spread, how people can be constructed within this symbolic chain, and how these metonymic chains can be invoked to potentially confirm, challenge or change the organizational order.