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Metonymy as a Prototypical Category

Metonymy as a Prototypical Category. Dirk Geeraerts Yves Peirsman. University of Leuven RU Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics. Purpose. CL has tended to define metonymy with a unitary definition: metaphor = a semantic shift across domains

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Metonymy as a Prototypical Category

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  1. Metonymy as aPrototypical Category Dirk GeeraertsYves Peirsman University of LeuvenRU Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics

  2. Purpose • CL has tended to define metonymy with a unitary definition: • metaphor = a semantic shift across domains • metonymy = a semantic shift within a domain (matrix) • as against the older definition: • metaphor = a semantic shift based on similarity • metonymy= a semantic shift based on contiguity ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  3. Purpose • but since CL provides an alternative, non-unitary model • of definition, there is another CL approach to metonymy • that needs to be explored: • can metonymy be defined as a prototypically structured • concept ? ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  4. Approach • what does it mean to define metonymy ? • provide an extensional demarcation: • what are the things that we call 'metonymy' ? • provide an intensional description: • what do these things have in common ? ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  5. Approach 1: Extension • metonymy is not a natural kind, it is a theoretical construct, • i.e. we do not necessarily talk about what happens in the • head of speakers but rather about what happens in the • head of linguists • what is it that made linguists group together a certain set of semantic phenomena ? •  which phenomena did they actually group together ? ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  6. Approach 1: Extension • check the literature on metonymy, i.e. check the literature that is descriptively most rich (and that is to be found predominantly in the prestructuralist era): • Hermann Paul (1880) Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte • Kristoffer Nyrop (1913) Grammaire historique de la langue française • Albert Waag (1901) Bedeutungsentwicklung unseres Wortschatzes • Gaston Esnault (1925) Métaphores occidentales • Neal R. Norrick (1981) Semiotic Principles in Semantic Theory •  an inventory of metonymical patterns ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  7. Approach 1. Extension • spatial part & whole (P) (W) (Ny) (E) (No) - Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of England • temporal part & whole (W) - Dutch and German morgen ‘morning’ for ‘tomorrow’ • location & located (P) (W) (Ny) (E) (No) – the house woke up for the people in the house’ • antecedent & consequent (P) (W) (Ny) (E) - Greek phobos ‘flight’ for ‘fear’ • subevent & complex event (P) (W) (No) - Mother is cooking potatoes • characteristic & entity (P) (W) (Ny) (E) - French beauté ‘beauty’ • producer & product (P) (W) (Ny) (E) (No) - I’m reading Shakespeare • controller & controlled (W) (Ny) - Schwarzkopf defeated Iraq • container & contained (W) (Ny) (E) (No)- French aimer la bouteille ‘love the bottle’ • material & object (Ny) (E) - French carton ‘cardboard’ for ‘cardboard box’ ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  8. Approach 1. Extension • cause & effect (Ny) (E) (No) - unlock the prisons for ‘let the prisoners free’ • place & product (Ny) (E) - china • possessor & possessed (E) (No) - the long straw starts for ‘the person with the straw’ • action & participant (P) (W) (Ny) (No) - to author a book • participant & participant (E) (No) - the pen is mightier than the sword for ‘the writer is mightier than the soldier’ • piece of clothing & person (P) (W) (Ny) (E) (No) - French une vielle perruque ‘an old wig’ for ‘an old person’ • piece of clothing & body part (P) (W) - German Sohle ‘sole (of a shoe)’ for ‘sole (of a foot)’ • single entity & collection (W) - German Imme ‘swarm of bees’ for ‘bee’ • time & entity (E) - French un mardi-gras ‘a Shrove Tuesday’ for ‘a disguised man’ • object & quantity (E) - French un quart ‘a quarter’ for ‘a tin of sardines in oil’ ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  9. Approach 2. Intension • a core concept: spatial partonomy • three dimensions defining extensions • strength of contact: part/whole > contact > adjacency • boundedness: entities > unbounded masses • domain: space > time > action/events/processes > functional assemblies ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  10. Approach 2. Intension • some restrictions on the discussion: • - the directionality of the metonymical patterns will not be • taken into account • - the examples (taken predominantly from the quoted • sources) will be not be discussed thoroughly • - in general, only the skeleton of the prototype-based • structure will be presented ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  11. Space ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  12. Space part & whole fill up the carwe need some good heads ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  13. Space container & contained a glass of wine the milk tipped over ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  14. Space location & located the whole town panicked meet me at the registry ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  15. Space entity & adjacent entity Germ. Tafelrunde 'round table' > people sitting there ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  16. Space entity & adjacent entity Germ. Tafelrunde 'round table' > people sitting there difference with "location" (±contact) may be small – not a crucial distinction ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  17. Space ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  18. Space material & object (unbounded whole - bounded entity) Fr. carton 'cardboard' > 'cardboard box' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  19. Space ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  20. Space x (unbounded whole - unbounded entity) chocolate ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  21. Space x (unbounded whole - contained bounded entity) bubbles 'champagne' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  22. Time ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  23. Time temporal part & whole Germ. Mittag'noon' > 'afternoon' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  24. Time time & entity the nineties were boring 9-11 will never be forgotten ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  25. Time antecedent & consequent Gr. phobos 'flight' > 'fear' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  26. Action / Event / Process ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  27. Action / Event / Process i.e. temporally characterized entities → difference with "time" domain may be small; overlaps are to be expected ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  28. Action / Event / Process complex event & subevent lead a girl to the altar 'marry' grade papers 'read and evaluate' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  29. Action / Event / Process event & participant i.e. relations based on frame semantics: participants etc. as elements contained in actions etc.; common subtypes: ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  30. Action / Event / Process action & agent government'the act of governing' > 'the governing agency' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  31. Action / Event / Process action & patient painting'the act of painting' > 'the painted object' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  32. Action / Event / Process action & location Fr. sortie'the act of leaving' > 'the way out' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  33. Action / Event / Process action & instrument Ger. Nahrung'the act of feeding' > 'food' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  34. Action / Event / Process cause & effect Fr. lumiére'light' > 'lamp' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  35. Action / Event / Process participant & participant i.e. "lateral" relations in a frame: participants etc. as elements contained in actions etc.; common subtypes: ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  36. Action / Event / Process possessor & possessed to marry money ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  37. Action / Event / Process producer & product I am reading Shakespeare ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  38. Action / Event / Process location & product camembert ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  39. Action / Event / Process actual & potential she speaks Spanish ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  40. Assemblies & Collections ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  41. Assemblies & Collections i.e. entities that are functional wholes (rather than spatial, temporal, action-related wholes) – allowing for vague boundaries between domains ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  42. Assemblies & Collections characteristic part & functional assembly the press 'the publishing media' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  43. Assemblies & Collections characteristic feature & entity youth / a youthgenius / a geniusbeauty / a beauty ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  44. Assemblies & Collections countable collection & member of the collection MHGer imme 'swarm' > 'bee' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  45. Assemblies & Collections uncountable collection & member of the collection Ger Frauenzimmer 'womanhood' > 'woman' ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  46. Overview part/whole ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  47. Overview part/whole containment contact adjacency ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  48. Overview part/whole containment contact adjacency unbounded bounded ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  49. Overview time space part/whole containment contact adjacency unbounded bounded ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

  50. Overview action/event/process time space part/whole containment contact adjacency unbounded bounded ICLC IX. Seoul, 22.07.2005

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