Cross-linguistic variation in metonymies for PERSON

Zhang, Weiwei; Geeraerts, Dirk; Speelman, Dirk

doi:10.1075/rcl.13.1.09zha

Cited by 32 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Jackson, Watts, List, Drabble, & Lindquist, 2020). However, past cross-linguistic surveys on metonymy have also been limited to a small number of oft-studied languages (Barcelona et al, 2003;Janda, 2011;Panther & Thornburg, 1999;Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez & Pérez Hernández, 2003;Sweep, 2012;Zhang, Speelman, & Geeraerts, 2015). An important reason for this limitation is that current methodologies in cross-linguistic semantic analysis require serious involvement of language experts (Brdar-Szabó & Brdar, 2003a, 2003b, 2012 or native speakers (Kamei & Wakao, 1992;Slabakova, Cabrelli Amaro, & Kang, 2013;Srinivasan & Rabagliati, 2015), or that they are simply not suitable for metonymy studies; e.g., elicitation techniques (Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Rakhilina, & Vanhove, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metonymy as a Universal Cognitive Phenomenon: Evidence from Multilingual Lexicons

Brochhagen¹

2022

Preprint

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Metonymy is regarded as a universally shared cognitive phenomenon; as such, humans are taken to effortlessly produce and comprehend metonymic senses. However, experimental studies on metonymy have been focused on Western societies, and the linguistic data backing up claims of universality has not been large enough to provide conclusive evidence. We introduce a large-scale analysis of metonymy based on a lexical corpus of 20~thousand metonymy instances from 189 languages and 69 genera. No prior study, to our knowledge, is based on linguistic coverage as broad as ours. Drawing on corpus and statistical analysis, evidence of universality is found at three levels: systematic metonymy in general, particular metonymy patterns, and specific metonymy concepts. These findings imply that a shared conceptual structure for these patterns and concepts holds across societies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metonymy as a Universal Cognitive Phenomenon: Evidence from Multilingual Lexicons

Brochhagen¹

2022

Preprint

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“…The other is from the psychological point of view put forward by Slabakova et al (2016) and Mario (2020) , differentiating conventional or regular and novel metonymies (those that are “produced and comprehended online”; Slabakova et al, 2016 , p.176). But the Cognitive Linguistic view holds that the experiential basis of metonymy conceptualization enjoys universality across cultural patterns and at the same time allows for cultural difference ( Zhang et al, 2015 , p. 220). This leads to the paper’s view that metonymy is both universal and cultural specific in some way; therefore, the way and the pattern of conceptualization of time in Chinese has its roots in Chinese culture, e.g., Chinese words related to a specific time interval all describe an event, but they may have different characteristics in the process of metonymy conceptualization.…”

Section: Types Of Event-based Metonymies In the Conceptualization Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Metonymic event-based time interval concepts in Mandarin Chinese—Evidence from time interval words

Zhong

Liu

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Starting from the overwhelming view that time is metaphorically conceptualized in terms of space, this study will, on the one hand, take the time interval words into minute analysis to confirm our view of event conceptualization of time at a more basic level along with space–time metaphoric conceptualization of time at a relational level. In alignment with the epistemology of the time–space conflation of the Chinese ancestors, our view is supported by the systematic examination of evidence related to the cultural origins of the conceptualization of time, through a scrutiny of the original meanings and construction of words related to intervals of time in Mandarin Chinese. This study offers a new explanation of how: (1) the conceptualization of time in Chinese is realized through metonymic cognition and (2) words related to specific intervals of time are coined based on the metonymic conceptualization of related events or a corresponding event schema. Five major types of event-based metonymies are identified, and their interactive functions are illustrated. Based on this evidence, we argue that the double nature of both metaphoric and metonymic time conceptualization in Mandarin Chinese lies in the fact that time interval words can be used in its time categorial sense or as a time entity which suggests the etymological origins of Chinese as ideograph. It is concluded therefore that the event-based metonymy conceptualization of time can provide better insights into the characteristics of Chinese modes of thinking and its influences on the perception of and interaction with the world. This study can also serve as good evidence for the shaping effect of language on cognition.

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“…Yet, there are some language-specific and culturally influenced differences. Many studies of body part metonymies (and metaphors) show that the bigger the differences between the cultures and the languages compared, the bigger are the differences in metonymic mappings and expressions (Yu, 2000;Deignan & Potter, 2004;Radić-Bojanić & Silaški, 2012;Stanojević, 2013;Zhang et al, 2015).…”

Section: Body Part Metonymiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some conceptual and grammatical properties of body part metonymies in English and Bosnian

Imamović

Ibrišimović

2015

ExELL

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The paper deals with metonymies having body parts as source domains in English and Bosnian. According to Cognitive Linguistics standpoint, human cognition is based on bodily functioning. Therefore, we started from the hypothesis that most body part metonymies are very similar across languages and cultures, and share similar properties. The aim of the paper was threefold: first, to examine whether metonymies with body parts as source domains have common grammatical and conceptual properties in English, secondly to examine whether they share the same properties in Bosnian, and thirdly to compare the two languages in this respect. We analysed body part metonymies in terms of some grammatical properties such as the use of singular and plural, specific and generic reference, grammatical recategorisation from count to mass nouns, noun-to-verb conversion, and some conceptual properties such as source-in-target vs. target-in-source metonymies, metonymic chains and combination of metaphor and metonymy. Many common features were found both within the respective languages under consideration and in cross-linguistic analysis. The minor differences found in contrasting the data from the two languages are mainly the result of differences in grammatical systems.

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Cross-linguistic variation in metonymies for PERSON

Cited by 32 publications

References 41 publications

Metonymy as a Universal Cognitive Phenomenon: Evidence from Multilingual Lexicons

Metonymy as a Universal Cognitive Phenomenon: Evidence from Multilingual Lexicons

Metonymic event-based time interval concepts in Mandarin Chinese—Evidence from time interval words

Some conceptual and grammatical properties of body part metonymies in English and Bosnian

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