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Targetting metonymic targets

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Abstract

In this chapter we propose to treat metonymy as a cognitive operation of conceptual elaboration based on the part-whole relationship that is triggered by the use of an expression (or metonymic vehicle) associated with a certain conceptual cluster (or metonymic source) within a conceptual domain. The activation of the source conceptual cluster opens up a mental space which is dynamically expanded or reduced, in the sense of Ruiz de Mendoza (1999, 2000), so as to come as close as possible to fitting the conceptual givens provided by the co(n)text of use. By approaching metonymy in this manner we are able to explain in a very natural way a number of facts observed in recent research.

Abstract

In this chapter we propose to treat metonymy as a cognitive operation of conceptual elaboration based on the part-whole relationship that is triggered by the use of an expression (or metonymic vehicle) associated with a certain conceptual cluster (or metonymic source) within a conceptual domain. The activation of the source conceptual cluster opens up a mental space which is dynamically expanded or reduced, in the sense of Ruiz de Mendoza (1999, 2000), so as to come as close as possible to fitting the conceptual givens provided by the co(n)text of use. By approaching metonymy in this manner we are able to explain in a very natural way a number of facts observed in recent research.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Figurative thought and language research in the 21st century 1
  4. Part 1. Modeling figurative thought and language
  5. Important challenges in the study of metaphors 19
  6. A Cognitive Grammar approach to ‘metonymy’ 37
  7. Targetting metonymic targets 59
  8. Part 2. The impact of figurative thought on linguistic structures
  9. The effect of figurative thought on basic level categorization 89
  10. Reconsidering accounts of the grammaticalization of auxiliaries 113
  11. Physical and communicative force in Caused-Motion constructions 141
  12. Part 3. Processing of figurative language
  13. Embodied simulations and verbal irony comprehension 167
  14. Verbal and situational irony 185
  15. Part 4. Figurative thought and language in use
  16. Metonymies of migration 215
  17. Draining the swamp 237
  18. Being in the same boat , in two ways 259
  19. Index 285
Figurative Thought and Language in Action
This chapter is in the book Figurative Thought and Language in Action
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.16.03brd

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Figurative thought and language research in the 21st century 1
  4. Part 1. Modeling figurative thought and language
  5. Important challenges in the study of metaphors 19
  6. A Cognitive Grammar approach to ‘metonymy’ 37
  7. Targetting metonymic targets 59
  8. Part 2. The impact of figurative thought on linguistic structures
  9. The effect of figurative thought on basic level categorization 89
  10. Reconsidering accounts of the grammaticalization of auxiliaries 113
  11. Physical and communicative force in Caused-Motion constructions 141
  12. Part 3. Processing of figurative language
  13. Embodied simulations and verbal irony comprehension 167
  14. Verbal and situational irony 185
  15. Part 4. Figurative thought and language in use
  16. Metonymies of migration 215
  17. Draining the swamp 237
  18. Being in the same boat , in two ways 259
  19. Index 285
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