Startseite Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders
Kapitel
Lizenziert
Nicht lizenziert Erfordert eine Authentifizierung

Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders

  • Ioannis Veloudis
Weitere Titel anzeigen von John Benjamins Publishing Company
Suche
Studies in Figurative Thought and Language
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Studies in Figurative Thought and Language

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.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editor and contributors vii
  4. Foreword ix
  5. Introduction. Figurative thought, figurative language, figurative grammar? 1
  6. Part I. Figuration and grammar
  7. Chapter 1. Exploiting wh -questions for expressive purposes 17
  8. Chapter 2. Construing and constructing hyperbole 41
  9. Chapter 3. How to do things with metonymy in discourse 75
  10. Chapter 4. Cognitive motivation in the linguistic realization of requests in Modern Greek 105
  11. Chapter 5. How metonymy and grammar interact 125
  12. Chapter 6. If -clauses and their figurative basis 151
  13. Part II. Figuration and the lexicon
  14. Chapter 7. The hand in figurative thought and language 179
  15. Chapter 8. Shakespeare on the shelf, Blue Helmets on the move 199
  16. Chapter 9. Metaphor, conceptual archetypes and subjectification 231
  17. Part III. Figuration from a cultural-anthropological and psycholinguistic perspective
  18. Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders 253
  19. Chapter 11. Pragmatic effects in blended figures 273
  20. Chapter 12. The psychological reality of spatio-temporal metaphors 295
  21. Name index 323
  22. Subject index 325
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.56.10vel

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editor and contributors vii
  4. Foreword ix
  5. Introduction. Figurative thought, figurative language, figurative grammar? 1
  6. Part I. Figuration and grammar
  7. Chapter 1. Exploiting wh -questions for expressive purposes 17
  8. Chapter 2. Construing and constructing hyperbole 41
  9. Chapter 3. How to do things with metonymy in discourse 75
  10. Chapter 4. Cognitive motivation in the linguistic realization of requests in Modern Greek 105
  11. Chapter 5. How metonymy and grammar interact 125
  12. Chapter 6. If -clauses and their figurative basis 151
  13. Part II. Figuration and the lexicon
  14. Chapter 7. The hand in figurative thought and language 179
  15. Chapter 8. Shakespeare on the shelf, Blue Helmets on the move 199
  16. Chapter 9. Metaphor, conceptual archetypes and subjectification 231
  17. Part III. Figuration from a cultural-anthropological and psycholinguistic perspective
  18. Chapter 10. Metaphor and metonymy as fanciful “asymmetry” builders 253
  19. Chapter 11. Pragmatic effects in blended figures 273
  20. Chapter 12. The psychological reality of spatio-temporal metaphors 295
  21. Name index 323
  22. Subject index 325
Jetzt anmelden und 20% sparen
Institutioneller Zugang
Wie funktioniert Authentifizierung?
Haben Sie eine Idee, wie wir unsere Website verbessern können?
Bitte schreiben Sie uns.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Heruntergeladen am 17.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/hcp.56.10vel/html
Button zum nach oben scrollen