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SHAKESPEARE ON THE SHELF, BLUE HELMETS ON THE MOVE: HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIC CONCEPTUALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBI

SHAKESPEARE ON THE SHELF, BLUE HELMETS ON THE MOVE: HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIC CONCEPTUALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN. Katarina Rasulić University of Belgrade, Serbia ekv@eunet.rs. Shakespeare on the shelf, blue helmets on the move.

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SHAKESPEARE ON THE SHELF, BLUE HELMETS ON THE MOVE: HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIC CONCEPTUALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBI

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  1. SHAKESPEARE ON THE SHELF, BLUE HELMETS ON THE MOVE: HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIC CONCEPTUALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN Katarina Rasulić University of Belgrade, Serbia ekv@eunet.rs

  2. Shakespeare on the shelf, blue helmets on the move • Focus: Metonymic patterns that recruit concepts from the human domain as vehicles (e.g. author for his work) or as targets (e.g. piece of clothing for person) – in English and Serbian • Some of the stock examples in the cognitive linguistic literature on metonymy include humans as vehicles or targets – variously considered within broader classifications of metonymic mappings and/or with regard to the ontological and cognitive salience of participants in a metonymic mapping

  3. Humans as metonymic vehicles and targets • Humans – “very good reference points in metonymic transfers” (Langacker 1993) • “human over non-human” – one of the basic cognitive principles of relative salience (Langacker 1993), governing the selection of the preferred vehicle in default metonymies (Kövecses and Radden 1998) • “On the whole, humans are not very good metonymic targets” (Handl 2011)

  4. Human beings “through the metonymic looking glass” in English and Serbian • 1) What metonymic vehicles commonly afford mental access to humans as desired targets? • 2) What target concepts are commonly accessed via humans as metonymic vehicles? • 3) To what extent is human-related metonymic conceptualization in English and Serbian language/culture sensitive? • 4) What does the metonymic portrayal of human beings reveal about the way people conceive of themselves? • 5) What does human-related metonymic conceptualization reveal about the nature of metonymy?

  5. Data and approach • 917 examples of human-related metonymies in English and Serbian (without word-class change) • Sources of data: - linguistic literature(Ullmann 1957, Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Norrick 1981, Nunberg 1995, Papafragou 1995, Gortan-Premk 1997, Kövecses and Radden 1998, Kovačević 1999, Panther and Radden 1999, Barcelona 2000, 2003, Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez 2000, Alač and Coulson 2004, Peirsman and Geeraerts 2006, Warren 2006, Rasulić 2006, 2010, Handl 2011 etc.) - electroniccorpora (BNC, NKSSJ) - selected sources of authentic language usage (internet forums and chats, conversations) • Qualitative analysis, descriptive, contrastive, usage-oriented

  6. Outline • A parallel overview of the most productive metonymic patterns 1) X FOR HUMAN 2) HUMAN FOR X found in both English and Serbian • Language/culture specific aspects (lexical and grammatical) • Human-related metonymic conceptualization and the nature of metonymy

  7. X FOR HUMAN:BODY PART FOR PERSON • A new face in the band • High costs per head • A city of a thousand souls • We need youngbrains now • The world’s greatestminds • Fresh blood in the team • Where lonelyhearts meet • A hungrymouth to feed • Hungrystomachs don’t care about philosophy • Poznata lica u sali ‘Familiar faces in the room’ • Koliko to dođe po glavi? ‘How much is it per head’ • U selu ima dvesta duša ‘There are two hundred souls in the village’ • Odliv mladihmozgova ‘The drain of youngbrains’ • Najvećiumovisveta ‘The world’s greatest minds’ • Imamo svežukrv u firmi ‘We have fresh blood in the firm’ • Zna mnogo usamljenihsrca ‘(S)he knows many lonely hearts’ • Hraniti tolika gladnausta ‘To feed so many hungrymouths’ • Gladnistomaci ne idu u šoping ‘Hungry stomachs don’t go shopping’ English Serbian

  8. X FOR HUMAN:BODY PART FOR PERSON • We are really short of hands • Who can argue with the fastestlegs in the game? • Use the stairs, you lazy butts! • Ormonde Jayne’sexpert noseswill help sniff out your own signature scent. • Trebaće nam još jedan par ruku ‘We’ll need another pair of hands’ • HSV traži osam miliona evra za najbrženoge Evrope ‘HSV is asking for eight millions for the fastest legs of Europe’ • Muka mi je od tih lenjih guzica‘I am sick of all those lazybutts’ • Nazdravlje svima vama junačkim jetrama! ‘Cheers to all of you heroic livers!’ English Serbian

  9. X FOR HUMAN:CLOTHING/UNIFORM FOR WEARER(S) • Are men designed to chase skirts? • Green Berets are highly educated. • The redcoats were trapped. • A dozen white coats marched into the room. • He wished to impress all the crownsof Europe. • The young woman nodded to the tuxedo. • On i dalje trči za suknjama‘He is still chasing skirts’ • Crvene beretke blokirale autoput ‘Red Berets have blocked the highway’ • Crveni mundiri pucali su na masu u Bostonu ‘The redcoats shot at the mass in Boston’ • Beli mantili štrajkuju pred Vladom‘White coats are protesting in front of the government’ • Poslednju reč ima Kruna‘The Crown has the last word’ • Fantomke su došle spremne. ‘The balaclavas have come prepared’ English Serbian

  10. X FOR HUMAN:OBJECT USED FOR USER • Colette: One of Paris‘ssharpestpens. • Please ask the cameras not to film yet. • Have you met our first violin? • The guns were ordered to fire. • Za to se zalažu najveća domaćapera. ‘The greatest domestic pens appeal for that’ • Druga kamera ponovo kasni. ‘The second camera is late again’ • Predstavljamo prvu violinuorkestra RTS-a. ‘We present the first violin of the RTS orchestra’ • Saša Petrović, prvi pištolj Srbije. ‘Saša Petrović, Serbia’s first gun’ English Serbian

  11. X FOR HUMAN:(SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT) OBJECT FOR PERSON • The ham sandwich wants his check. • Come on, EU passports over here. • Dolari neka pređu na šalter broj dva. ‘May dollars move to counter number two.” • Kasa tri da dođe u magacin. ‘Cash register 3 should come to the storage.’ English Serbian

  12. X FOR HUMAN:(SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT) PROPERTY FOR PERSON • The ulcer in room 12 is in good mood. • Are you an L or an XL? • Sve moje petice otišle su na takmičenje. ‘All my fives(=As) have gone to the competition’ English Serbian

  13. X FOR HUMAN:PLACE FOR INHABITANTS/OCCUPANTS • Bangladesh votes today. • New York fears new floods. • The whole city is dancing. • Her laughing woke up the whole house. • Our building decided not to renew the contract with AMS. • The round is not over until the last room has finished. • Poljska žali predsednika. ‘Poland mourns the president’ • Novi Sad strepi od zagađene vode. ‘Novi Sad is anxious about the polluted water’ • Čitavo selo diglo se na noge. ‘The whole village rose to feet’ • Grom je uznemirio celu kuću. ‘The thunder upset the whole house’ • Naš soliter se saglasio da se renovira fasada. ‘Our skyscraper has consented that the facade should be refurbished’ • Učionica 230 završava ispit u 13h. ‘Classroom 230 is finishing the exam at 13h’ English Serbian

  14. X FOR HUMAN:COUNTRY/CAPITAL FOR SPECIFIC PEOPLE (REPRESENTATIVES / DECISION MAKERS) • China could reach Moon by 2020. • Germany wins the world cup. • Britain strips Mugabe of knighthood. • Washington blames Tehran for Iraqi violence. • Japan pomera granice u IT sektoru ‘Japan is moving the boundaries in the IT sector’ • Portugalija prošla na kvalifikacijama ‘Portugal has passed the qualifications’ • Češka prodaje praški aerodrom. ‘Czech Republic is selling the Prague airport’ • Beograd i Prištinapotpisali sporazum o normalizaciji odnosa. ‘Belgrade and Priština have signed the agreement on the normalization of relations’ English Serbian

  15. X FOR HUMAN:INSTITUTION / ASSEMBLY FOR MEMBERS • The University decided to invest in this project. • The Congress voted against the measures. • The White House keeps quiet. • Creating the correspondent: How the BBC reached the frontline in WWII. • The gathering cried out in a single voice. • Univerzitet se neće složiti. ‘The University will not agree’ • Skupština danas glasa o Zakonu o informisanju. ‘The Parliament votes on the Information law today’ • Bela kuća je spremna za pregovore. ‘The White House is ready for negotiations’ • Politika je bila na licu mesta. ‘Politika was on the spot’ • Cela svadba je zapevala. ‘The whole wedding started singing’. English Serbian

  16. HUMAN FOR X:PRODUCER FOR PRODUCT • The devil wears Prada. • Keep calm and drive a Renault. • kalashnikov, sandwich, diesel, volt, cardigan, mackintosh, macadam, guillotine... • Đavo nosi Pradu. ‘The Devil wears Prada’ • Kad može da bira, pije Radovanovića. ‘Whenever he can choose, he drinks Radovanović’ • kalašnjikov, sendvič, dizel, rendgen, volt, giljotina, makadam... English Serbian

  17. HUMAN FOR X:AUTHOR FOR HIS WORK • Do you like Brahms? • Ishiguro has been translated into over thirty languages. • That looks like an authentic Dali. • He keeps watching Tarantino. • Banksy is all over the city. • VoliteliBramsa? ‘Do you like Brahms?’ • Rušdije već odavno rasprodat. ‘Rushdi has long been sold out’ • On ima pravogKlimta u radnojsobi. ‘He has a real Klimt in his study’ • I dalje najradije gleda Felinija. ‘He still watches Fellini rather than anyone else’ • Jesi li video Koraksa juče? ‘Did you see Corax(=political cartoonist) yesterday?‘ English Serbian

  18. HUMAN FOR X:CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLED • Will Obama bomb Iran? • Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at Austerlitz. • Sheila has five lectures this week. • Buš je bombardovao Irak. ‘Bush bombed Iraq’ • Živojin Mišić je porazio austrougarsku vojsku u Kolubarskoj bici. ‘Živojin Mišić defeated the Austro-Hungarian army in the Kolubara battle’ • Položio sam Katarinu. ‘I’ve passed Katarina’. • Ja sutra imam ispite u svih pet učionica. ‘Tomorrow I have exams in all five classrooms” English Serbian

  19. HUMAN FOR X:LEADER FOR PERIOD OF LEADERSHIP • The world before and after Hitler. • Modern medical services were abolished during Pol Pot. • Political and cultural action in France under de Gaulle. • The company reached its peak under Robertson. • Tako je bilo i za vreme Hitlera. ‘It was like that during Hitler as well’ • U kakvom je stanju svet posle Džordža Buša? ‘What state is the world in after George Bush’ • Pod Sadamom su se osećali sigurnije. ‘They felt safer under Saddam’ • Odsek je procvetao za vreme Kostića. ‘The Department thrived during Kostić’ English Serbian

  20. HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR HIS/HER (VALUABLE) POSSESSION • Her husband ran out of petrol on Tower bridge. • Have you ever been towed away? • What to do when you have a flat tyre? • Abramovich docked on Manhattan’s West Side. • Ivan se parkirao iza pozorišta. ‘Ivan is parked /lit. has parked himself/ behind the theatre’ • Opet me je odneo pauk. ‘I have been towed away again’ • Juče su mi probušili gumu. ‘I had my tyre flattened yesterday’ • Piter Mank je vezan u Tivtu. ‘Peter Munk is docked in Tivat’ English Serbian

  21. HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR HIS/HER SOCIAL POSITION • He doesn’t want to keep to many workers under him. • A bad boss is one who is always trying to please those above him. • Njen muž ima dvadeset radnika pod sobom. ‘Her husband has twenty workers under him’ • Ima previše šefova iznad sebe. ‘He has too many bosses above him’ English Serbian

  22. HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR THE PLACE WHERE HE/SHE LIVES OR WORKS • Mary is just around the corner. • The boss is on the top floor. • The secretary is near the entrance. • Idemo kod mene, ja sam odmah tu iza ćoška. ‘Let’s go to my place /lit. to me/, I am right around the corner’ • Doktor Petrović je na trećem spratu. ‘Doctor Petrović is on the third floor’ • Direktor je odmah pored lifta desno. ‘The director is immediately on the right from the elevator’ English Serbian

  23. HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT OBJECT/PROPERTY • That’s me. • To sam ja. ‘That’s me’ English Serbian

  24. Language specific aspects: LexicalBODY PART FOR PERSON • poor soul, fresh legs, private eye... • deckhand, paleface, egghead, loudmouth, redneck, hunchback... • dušo moja ‘my soul’ – my dear... • Semantic extension of lice ‘face’=person: službeno lice lit. ‘official face’, vojno lice lit. ‘military face’, zaposleno lice lit. ‘employed face’, N.N. lice lit. ‘NN face’, uhapšeno lice lit. ‘arrested face’... • Anglicism: faca • On je prava faca. ‘He is a real face(=a cool person)’ English Serbian

  25. Language/culture specific aspects: LexicalCLOTHING/UNIFORM FOR WEARERS) • blue collars, white collars • hard hats • Mingle among the suits of Wall Street. • Odmah se šajkače i opanci okupe oko tebe. ‘Šajkače /traditional Serbian hat for men, pl./ and opanci /traditional Serbian shoes, pl./ gather around you immediately’ • Loan translation: Plave kragne mogu da zarade više od belih. ‘Blue collars can earn more than the white ones’ English Serbian

  26. Language specific aspects: Grammatical • Watch the fastest legs in town! His name is Michael Seida. • I saw the new Shakespeare, but I didn’t like it. • Anaphoric reference – geared towards the target concept • Mudre glave-FEM su zaključile-FEM da se one-FEM time više neće baviti ‘The wise heads-FEMdecided-FEM that they-FEM will not deal with it any longer.’ • Gledao sam novog Šekspira, ali mi se nije dopao-MASC. ‘I saw the new Shakespeare, but I didn’t like him’ • Anaphoric reference – affected by the grammatical features of the vehicle concept English Serbian

  27. The metonymic portrayal of HUMANS in English and Serbian: Preferences towards the recruitment of particular human-related concepts as metonymic vehicles and targets • BODY PARTS • WHAT WE WEAR (AS MEMBERS OF PROFESSIONAL/SOCIAL GROUPS) • OBJECTS WE USE • OBJECTS/PROPERTIES ASSOCIATED WITH US IN A GIVEN SITUATION • WHERE WE LIVE • WHERE WE WORK • WHAT WE CREATE • WHAT WE CONTROL • WHAT WE OWN • THE TIME DURING WHICH WE ARE IN CONTROL • WHERE WE LIVE/WORK • OUR SOCIAL POSITION • OBJECTS/PROPERTIES ASSOCIATED WITH US IN A GIVEN SITUATION Humans – mentally accessed via: Humans – providing mental access to:

  28. HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIES IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN: OPEN-ENDED • Illustrative of “our capacity to invoke the conception of any one entity as a cognitive reference point for purposes of establishing mental contact with another“ (Langacker 1993: 1) • That’s me. • Online resolution of underspecified targets – within the current discourse space (Langacker 2001) - the inferential nature of metonymy (Panther and Thornburg 2003)

  29. On the other hand - constraints within an existing pattern • e.g. PERSON FOR HIS/HER CAR • I’ve run out of petrol. I am parked behind the museum. I was towed away. He is much faster than me. • *I was painted yesterday. *I was repaired by a first-class mechanic. *I was sold at a good price.

  30. Concluding remarks • Human-related metonymies in English and Serbian – noteworthy range and complexity • Anthropocentricity – one of the prominent features of metonymic conceptualization • Humans – very good as metonymic vehicles but also as metonymic targets (dehumanizing metonymies, agency backgrounding etc.) • Clear preferences towards the recruitment of particular human-related concepts (individual and collective) as metonymic vehicles and targets in English and Serbian tend to outweigh language/culture-specific differences – however, such differences merit more substantial attention - a broader cross-linguistic examination necessary to reveal the conceptual-linguistic interaction

  31. Concluding remarks • The open-endedness and inner constraints of human-related metonymies – a challenge for defining and classifying conceptual metonymy • Human-related metonymies – provide a fruitful platform forcontent-based study of metonymy – a useful insight into the nature of metonymy (conceptual, linguistic, discursive, processing aspects) – in particular, a useful insight into multiple roles of metonymy in meaning making (meaning extension, dynamic meaning construction, meaning imposition)

  32. References (1) • Alač, M. and S. Coulson (2004). The man, the key, or the car: Who or what is parked out back? Cognitive Science Online, Vol. 2., pp. 21-34. • Barcelona, A. (ed.) (2000). Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. • Barcelona, A. (2003): Metonymy in cognitive linguistics. An analysis and a few modest proposals. In: Cuyckens, H. K.-U. Panther and T. Berg (eds), Motivation in Language: Studies in Honor of Günter Radden. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 223–255. • Barcelona, A. 2008. Metonymy is Not Just a Lexical Phenomenon: On the Operation of Metonymy in Grammar and Discourse. In J. Nils-Lennart, D. Minuch and C. Alm-Arvius (eds.), Selected Papers from the Stockholm 2008 Metaphor Festival. Stockholm: Stockholm UP, 1-40. • Benczes, R., A. Barcelona and F.-J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez (eds). 2011. Defining metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics. Towards a consensus view. (Human Cognitive Processing 28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. • Brdar, M. (2007). Topic-continuity, metonymy and locative adverbials: A cognitive-functional account. Suvremenalingvistika, 63: 13-29. • Dirven, R. and R. Pörings (eds.) (2002). Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. • Gortan-Premk, D. (1997). Polisemija i organizacija leksičkog sistema u srpskom jeziku. Beograd: Institut za srpski jezik SANU. • Handl, S. (2011): The Conventionality of Figurative Language: A Usage-based Study. Tübingen: Narr Verlag.

  33. References (2) • Hilpert, M. (2006): Keeping an eye on the data: Metonymies and their patterns. In: Stefanowitsch, A. and S. T. Gries (eds): Corpus-based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 123-151. • Kövecses, Z. and G. Radden (1998): Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics, 9-1, 37-77. • Kovačević, M. (1999). Metonimija i sinegdoha. Srpski jezik 4/1-2, 171-202. • Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. • Langacker, R.W. (1993): Reference-point constructions, Cognitive Linguistics, 4-1, 1–38. • Langacker, R. W. (2001): “Discourse in cognitive grammar”, Cognitive Linguistics, 12, 2001, pp. 143–188. • Markert, K. and M. Nissim (2006). Metonymic proper names: A corpus-based account. In: Corpus-based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy (Stefanowitsch, A. and S. Th. Gries, eds.), Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 152-174. • Markert, K. and U. Hahn (2002): Understanding metonymies in discourse. Artificial Intelligence 135 (2002), pp. 145–198. • Nerlich, B., Todd, Z. and Clarke, D. D. (1999). “‘Mummy, I like being a sandwich’: Metonymy in Language Acquisition”. In: Metonymy in Language and Thought, K.-U. Panther and G. Radden (eds), Amsterdam/Philadelphia:Benjamins, 361-383. • Norrick, N. (1981). Semiotic Principles in Semantic Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. • Nunberg, G. (1995). Transfer of meaning. Journal of Semantics, 1, 109-132.

  34. References (3) • Panther, K.-U. and G. Radden (eds) (1999). Metonymy in Language and Thought. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. • Panther, K-U. and Thornburg, L. (2003): Metonymies as natural inference and activation schemas. In: Metonymy and Pragmatic Inferencing (K-U. Panther and L. Thornburg, eds), Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 127-147. • Panther, K.-U. (2006): Metonymy as a Usage Event. In: Kristiansen, G. (ed.) Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 147-185. • Papafragou, A. (1995).Metonymy and relevance.UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 7: 141-175. • Peirsman, Y. and D. Geeraerts (2006): Metonymy as a prototypical category. Cognitive Linguistics 17-3, 269-316. • Rasulić, K. (2006). This could be you: Metonymy as conceptual integration. In: ELLSII75 Proceedings, Volume I (Rasulić, K. and I. Trbojević, eds.), Belgrade: Faculty of Philology, 307-317. • Rasulić, K. (2010): Aspekti metonimije u jeziku i mišljenju. [Aspects of metonymy in language and thought]. Theoria, 53/3, pp. 49 – 70. • Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez, F.J. (2000): The role of mappings and domains in understanding metonymy.In: Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads. A Cognitive Perspective,Antonio Barcelona (ed.), Berlin/New York: Moutonde Gruyter, pp. 109–132. • Ullmann, S. (1957). The Principles of Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell. • Warren, B. (2006). Referential Metonymy. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.

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