Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders
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Ioannis Veloudis
Abstract
Langacker (1987: 469) remarks that “the asymmetry of an ‘event’ detected against an established background is fundamental to cognitive organization and not at all peculiar to language. It recalls not only figure/ground alignment […] but also the more general point that novel experience is structured and interpreted with reference to previous experience”. In this paper I argue that metaphor and metonymy are in a sense, if not par excellence, fanciful “asymmetry”-builders: their pertinent characteristic, i.e.associationin terms of similarity and contiguity, always warrants that “novel experiences” (targets) are safely structured and interpreted with reference to “previous experiences” (sources); in other words, it always ensures that the imaginative, playful departure from an "established background" will not lead us astray.
Abstract
Langacker (1987: 469) remarks that “the asymmetry of an ‘event’ detected against an established background is fundamental to cognitive organization and not at all peculiar to language. It recalls not only figure/ground alignment […] but also the more general point that novel experience is structured and interpreted with reference to previous experience”. In this paper I argue that metaphor and metonymy are in a sense, if not par excellence, fanciful “asymmetry”-builders: their pertinent characteristic, i.e.associationin terms of similarity and contiguity, always warrants that “novel experiences” (targets) are safely structured and interpreted with reference to “previous experiences” (sources); in other words, it always ensures that the imaginative, playful departure from an "established background" will not lead us astray.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor and contributors vii
- Foreword ix
- Introduction. Figurative thought, figurative language, figurative grammar? 1
-
Part I. Figuration and grammar
- Chapter 1. Exploiting wh -questions for expressive purposes 17
- Chapter 2. Construing and constructing hyperbole 41
- Chapter 3. How to do things with metonymy in discourse 75
- Chapter 4. Cognitive motivation in the linguistic realization of requests in Modern Greek 105
- Chapter 5. How metonymy and grammar interact 125
- Chapter 6. If -clauses and their figurative basis 151
-
Part II. Figuration and the lexicon
- Chapter 7. The hand in figurative thought and language 179
- Chapter 8. Shakespeare on the shelf, Blue Helmets on the move 199
- Chapter 9. Metaphor, conceptual archetypes and subjectification 231
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Part III. Figuration from a cultural-anthropological and psycholinguistic perspective
- Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders 253
- Chapter 11. Pragmatic effects in blended figures 273
- Chapter 12. The psychological reality of spatio-temporal metaphors 295
- Name index 323
- Subject index 325
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editor and contributors vii
- Foreword ix
- Introduction. Figurative thought, figurative language, figurative grammar? 1
-
Part I. Figuration and grammar
- Chapter 1. Exploiting wh -questions for expressive purposes 17
- Chapter 2. Construing and constructing hyperbole 41
- Chapter 3. How to do things with metonymy in discourse 75
- Chapter 4. Cognitive motivation in the linguistic realization of requests in Modern Greek 105
- Chapter 5. How metonymy and grammar interact 125
- Chapter 6. If -clauses and their figurative basis 151
-
Part II. Figuration and the lexicon
- Chapter 7. The hand in figurative thought and language 179
- Chapter 8. Shakespeare on the shelf, Blue Helmets on the move 199
- Chapter 9. Metaphor, conceptual archetypes and subjectification 231
-
Part III. Figuration from a cultural-anthropological and psycholinguistic perspective
- Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders 253
- Chapter 11. Pragmatic effects in blended figures 273
- Chapter 12. The psychological reality of spatio-temporal metaphors 295
- Name index 323
- Subject index 325
