Metonymic processing: a cognitive ability relevant to translators, editors and language teachers

‘Metonymic processing’, the ability to recognize relatedness through shared features, associations or part-whole relations, is a basic cognitive ability, which can be listed along with other abilities, such a matching, selecting, ordering and recombining. The ability to use language communicatively relies heavily on the ability to recognise metonymic relations, not just at word level, but also at sentence and discourse level. This paper proposes a ‘general theory of metonymy’ which shows the commonality between linguistic phenomena as diverse as: sense/reference, words categories, hyponyms/superordinates, synonymy, Indirect Speech Acts, textual cohesion and discourse metonymy. What are the practical implications of this? Much of the work of translators, editors and language teachers involves metonymic processing, because texts and translations, edited texts and the originals, and learner utterances and target utterances are related metonymically, that is, closely related, not literally equivalent nor metaphorically related. An awareness of this may go some way to making translators, editors and language teachers better practitioners

The Three Grammars and the Sign

This article presents an original three-component model of the linguistic sign. It shares with the established triadic models of Peirce (1955 [1897]) and Ogden & Richards (1923/1949) in identifying THOUGHT, WORD and THING as essential components; but differs in being linear, with THOUGHT and THING at opposite poles. It is argued that this arrangement reflects the way the components of the sign relate to reality and thereby serves well as an explanatory tool for linguistic research. The model is further modified at each of the ontological realms using concepts from cognitive linguistics, renamed COGNITION, LANGUAGE and REALITY. The new model is employed as a research tool in two case studies: one illustrates its use in making sense of the complex field of language grammar; the other does the same for figurative language – metaphor and metonymy. The article’s conclusions include that interrogating established cornerstones of linguistic theory in the light of new theory can lead to the development of improved research tools

Text Metaphtonymy: The interplay of metonymy and metaphor in discourse

This article starts by looking at the various ways metonymic and metaphoric thinking, as independent phenomena, organize text at discourse level. The literature on Metaphor in Discourse is classified under three broad categories, 'metaphor clusters', 'metaphor chains' and 'extended metaphor'; while the less extensive body of research on Metonymy in Discourse is analyzed into parallel categories, 'metonymy clusters', 'metonymy chains' and 'extended metonymy'. The article goes on to look at the ways in which Metonymy in Discourse and Metaphor in Discourse phenomena combine in making meaning at text level. The interplay of metonymy and metaphor in discourse referred to here as Text Metaphtonymy, is explored under headings adapted from Goossens (1990), namely, 'metaphor within metonymy' and 'metonymy within metaphor'. The ways in which metonymy and metaphor combine at discourse level are shown to be varied and intricate. This has implications for applied linguists working with text. The direction further work in this area might take is indicated

Employing cognitive metonymy theory in the analysis of semantic relations between source and target text in translation

This article offers a model of translation which frames semantic relations between source- and target-text elements in terms of metonymy, and translation in terms of metonymic processing. Translators/interpreters constantly use approximations rather than exact one-to-one correspondences in their work, as meaning making is by nature partial and built-in matches between language systems do not exist. Approximation is identified as a recurrent theme in Translation Studies, while Metonymy Studies is seen as providing a toolkit for describing in detail the approximate semantic relations between source- and target-text elements. Models from Metonymy Studies are applied to two translation case studies and a translation revision case study. An original typology of metonymic relations is proposed based on whether or not source and target are encoded linguistically as vehicle and/or topic. It is concluded that the semantic relations between source- and target-text elements in translation are distinctive in two respects: 1) they are characterized by facetization and zone activation rather than metonymization; 2) they are examples of Topic metonymy (both source and target concepts are encoded) and Code-switching metonymy (the source and target concepts are encoded in different languages)

Exome-wide association study of pancreatic cancer risk

We conducted a case-control exome-wide association study to discover germline variants in coding regions that affect risk for pancreatic cancer, combining data from 5 studies. We analyzed exome and genome sequencing data from 437 patients with pancreatic cancer (cases) and 1922 individuals not known to have cancer (controls). In the primary analysis, BRCA2 had the strongest enrichment for rare inactivating variants (17/437 cases vs 3/1922 controls) (P=3.27x10(-6); exome-wide statistical significance threshold P<2.5x10(-6)). Cases had more rare inactivating variants in DNA repair genes than controls, even after excluding 13 genes known to predispose to pancreatic cancer (adjusted odds ratio, 1.35, P=.045). At the suggestive threshold (P<.001), 6 genes were enriched for rare damaging variants (UHMK1, AP1G2, DNTA, CHST6, FGFR3, and EPHA1) and 7 genes had associations with pancreatic cancer risk, based on the sequence-kernel association test. We confirmed variants in BRCA2 as the most common high-penetrant genetic factor associated with pancreatic cancer and we also identified candidate pancreatic cancer genes. Large collaborations and novel approaches are needed to overcome the genetic heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer predisposition

A human antibody against pathologic IAPP aggregates protects beta cells in type 2 diabetes models

In patients with type 2 diabetes, pancreatic beta cells progressively degenerate and gradually lose their ability to produce insulin and regulate blood glucose. Beta cell dysfunction and loss is associated with an accumulation of aggregated forms of islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) consisting of soluble prefibrillar IAPP oligomers as well as insoluble IAPP fibrils in pancreatic islets. Here, we describe a human monoclonal antibody selectively targeting IAPP oligomers and neutralizing IAPP aggregate toxicity by preventing membrane disruption and apoptosis in vitro. Antibody treatment in male rats and mice transgenic for human IAPP, and human islet-engrafted mouse models of type 2 diabetes triggers clearance of IAPP oligomers resulting in beta cell protection and improved glucose control. These results provide new evidence for the pathological role of IAPP oligomers and suggest that antibody-mediated removal of IAPP oligomers could be a pharmaceutical strategy to support beta cell function in type 2 diabetes