On Multiple Metonymies Within Indirect Speech Acts

Indirect speech acts are frequently structured by more than a single metonymy. The metonymies are related not only to the illocutionary force of the utterances, but also function within the individual lexemes being their parts. An indirect speech act can thus involve not only multiple, but also multi-levelled operation of conceptual metonymy

On the distinction between metonymy and vertical polysemy in encyclopaedic semantics

In cognitive linguistics, metonymy is seen as a fundamental cognitive process where one conceptual entity affords access to another closely associated one. Cases of vertical polysemy have also often been treated as instances of metonymy (see e.g. Radden and Kövecses, 1999). In vertical polysemy a lexical form designates two or more senses that are in a relationship of categorial inclusion – e.g. dog ‘canine’, ‘male canine’. In this paper I present an account of cases of vertical polysemy from the point of view of domain-based encyclopaedic semantics as described in Langacker (1987). I claim that the domain configurations which underlie the broader and narrower meanings of vertical polysemes are very different from those involved in cases of metonymy. Croft (1993) argues that from a Langackerian viewpoint, metonymy involves a shift in the salience of two domains that form parts of a domain matrix against which a given concept is profiled. In cases of vertical polysemy, on the other hand, the relationship between the broader and narrower meanings may be effected in a number of different ways, none of which involve the kind of domain configurations found in metonymy. For example, the narrower ‘male canine’ sense of dog makes reference to an additional domain of SEX, a domain which is not an essential part of the domain structure of the broader ‘canine’ meaning

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

Cognitive Metaphors of the Mind in the Canterbury Tales

The paper presents an analysis of a number of cognitive metaphors pertaining to the concept of mind (e.g. sanity and insanity), heart, and fire. The study has been based on the text of Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The paper contains a short theoretical introduction and a discussion of different linguistic and psychological approaches to issues related to figurative and literal, conventional language use. The analytical part focuses on the detailed contextual study of the cognitive metaphorical concepts. It is argued that many apparently similar concepts can evoke semantically conflicting metaphors, while concepts that appear to be mutually exclusive can sometimes evoke common associations and thereby similar metaphors

Metaphor- and metonymy-based compounds in English: a cognitive linguistic approach

The paper makes the following novel claims: (1) the semantics of noun--noun compounds which is activated by metaphor and/or metonymy (often termed as "exocentric" compounds in linguistics and generally regarded as semantically opaque) can be accounted for with the help of conceptual metaphor and metonymy theory; (2) there are regular patterns of metaphor- and metonymy-based compounds, depending on which constituent is affected by conceptual metaphor and/or metonymy. In the second part of the paper I look at a subtype of metaphor- and metonymy-based noun--noun compounds, where the simultaneous activation of both metaphor and metonymy affects the meaning, and give an account of the productive patterns that underlie this type

The ethics of interpretation : The signifying chain from field to analysis

This paper attempts to describe the relationship between the embodied practice of fieldwork and the written articulation of this experience. Starting from Valerie Hey's conceptualisation of 'rapport' as form of 'intersubjective synergy', a moment of recognition of similarity within difference – similar in structure to Laclau and Moufffe's conceptualization of hegemony – the paper explores how we can understand these moments of recognition as positioned within a complex web of signifying chains that interlink social, psychic and linguistic means of representation. Laclau and Mouffe's logics of equivalence and difference and Lacan's account of the production of meaning through metaphor and metonymy provide a theoretical language through which to explore chains of meaning in two fragments of data drawn from a study comparing disciplines and institutions in higher education. My argument is that an awareness of these processes of production of meaning is necessary to the development of an ethical mode of interpretation