Towards a Better Understanding of Metonymy

Wojciech Wachowski

TOWARDS
A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
OF METONYMY

PETER LANG

Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wachowski, Wojciech, author.

Title: Towards a better understanding of metonymy / Wojciech Wachowski.

Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, 2019. | Series: Literary and cultural stylistics ; 44 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018024750 | ISBN 9781788743457 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Metonyms. | Cognitive grammar.

Classification: LCC P301.5.M49 W65 2018 | DDC 401/.43--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024750

Cover design by Peter Lang Ltd.

ISSN 1660-9301

ISBN 978-1-78874-345-7 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78874-346-4 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-1-78874-347-1 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78874-348-8 (mobi)

© Peter Lang AG 2019

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom

oxford@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com

Wojciech Wachowski has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.

All rights reserved.

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This publication has been peer reviewed.

About the author

WOJCIECH WACHOWSKI is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He is also an Endeavour Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia, and has lectured as a visiting professor at several European universities. He has published on various topics in linguistics, especially cognitive linguistics and sociolinguistics. His main research interests include metonymy and metaphor, and teacher and translator training.

About the book

The general aim of this book is to contribute to a better understanding of metonymy, a phenomenon which still, despite the current upsurge in scholarly attention, remains puzzling in some respects. The theoretical framework of this book is provided by the school of thought commonly known as Cognitive Linguistics. The first part of the book analyses and develops various hypotheses concerning the nature of metonymy advanced in the literature to date. It presents numerous arguments in favour of the conceptual rather than purely linguistic basis of metonymy and shows that metonymy is a ubiquitous phenomenon not only in language but above all in thought. The second part contains a thorough analysis of the constraints on the scope of metonymy and discusses the differences between metonymy and other forms of so-called figurative language. The third part is devoted to the role and importance of metonymy in communication and focuses on the creative functions of metonymy, which have received surprisingly little scholarly attention to date, such as euphemism, vague language, and humour. The fourth part of this book is centred on some problematic issues concerning the distinction between metonymy, metaphor, and synecdoche.

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Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Typographical conventions

Introduction

Chapter 1

Metonymy: The name and definition

Chapter 2

Metonymy: The scope

Chapter 3

Metonymy: The functions

Chapter 4

Metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche: Problematic issues

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index←v | vi→ ←vi | vii→

Figures

Figure 1. Shakespeare caricature (by Court Jones, 2008). Reproduced with permission from the author

Figure 2. The Dog Picture (Marr 1982: 101). Reproduced with permission from the author

Figure 3. The Kanizsa Triangle (public domain)

Figure 4. The law of prägnanz (by Boeree). Reproduced with permission from the author

Figure 5. Guernica (1937) by Pablo Picasso

Figure 6. The basic metonymic relation (Panther and Thornburg 2018: 124). Reproduced with permission from the authors and publishing house