8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English
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Susanne Niemeier
Abstract
The contribution discusses metonymic color expressions in English, with a focus on the color ‘blue’, as meaning extensions of basic color terms. Color metonymies can on the one hand be seen as culture dependent, but on a deeper level of analysis seem to rely on universal natural features, which may predestine them for being used in emotional expressions. After a summary of research results on color terms and a discussion of the concept of metonymy, examples concerning the color ‘blue’ are analyzed within a radial network ofmeaning. In a last step, the potential of such networks as an inroad to intercultural learning within foreign language teaching is pointed out.
Abstract
The contribution discusses metonymic color expressions in English, with a focus on the color ‘blue’, as meaning extensions of basic color terms. Color metonymies can on the one hand be seen as culture dependent, but on a deeper level of analysis seem to rely on universal natural features, which may predestine them for being used in emotional expressions. After a summary of research results on color terms and a discussion of the concept of metonymy, examples concerning the color ‘blue’ are analyzed within a radial network ofmeaning. In a last step, the potential of such networks as an inroad to intercultural learning within foreign language teaching is pointed out.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- 1. Speaking of colors and odors 1
- 2. Color smell, and language: The semiotic nature of perception and language 19
- 3. How can language cope with color? Functional aspects of the nervous system 35
- 4. Color perception, color description and metaphor 61
- 5. Attractiveness and adornment 85
- 6. Color terms between elegance and beauty. The verbalization of color with textiles and cosmetics 113
- 7. Color names and dynamic imagery 129
- 8. From blue stockings to blue movies: Color metonymies in English 141
- 9. Odor memory 155
- 10. From psychophysics to semiophysics 167
- 11. Cognition, olfaction and linguistic creativity: Linguistic synesthesia as poetic device in cologne advertisement 185
- 12. Understanding synesthetic expressions 203
- 13. Olfactory and visual processing and verbalization 227
- Contributors 239
- Index 241
