situational metonymies

Situational metonymies

Günter RaddenHamburg University

[email protected]

Situation metonymies 122.04.23

Structure

1. What is metonymy?

2. Cognitive steps in communicating

a (metonymic) situation

3. Examples of situational metonymies

22.04.23 Situation metonymies 2

1. What is metonymy? – my view

Is metonymy

(i) a matter of contiguity?

(ii) a matter of substitution?

(iii) a reference-point phenomenon?

(iv) an inferential process?


– No.

– No.

– Yes, and…

– Yes, and…

(i ) Metonymy is not a matter of contiguity

but a matter of association“Metonymies may be called natural inference schemas, i.e. easily activatable associations among concepts that can be used for inferential purposes.

(Panther & Thornburg 2004)

“[…] metonymy is a process of co-activation of strongly associated concepts within single integrated conceptualisations […]

[…] metonymy is an ‛embodied’ mental process occurring naturally and unconsciously as a result of synaptic links in the parts of the brain supporting mental and linguistic activities.”

(Bierwiaczonek 2013: 37 and 256)


Bidirectionality of metonymic relations

CONTAINER FOR CONTENT: This bottle is sour.

CONTENT FOR CONTAINER: You did it, mate, says Morgan, clinking beers with Wallace.

POSSESSOR FOR POSSESSION: My wife was towed away.

POSSESSION FOR POSSESSOR: Arthur married money.

REPRESENTATION FOR OBJECT: It’s not raining on this map.

OBJECT FOR REPRESENTATION: I like Monet’s water lilies. (‘I like the paintings of water lilies by

Monet’)


Is there a limit to metonymic associations?

How can these metonymies be described?

- Flight agent asking passenger: “Do you want window or aisle?”

‛object for space near space for object’ = Proximity ICM?

- Passenger at railroad station asking where the ticket office is:

“Where can I get train tickets?” “Trains are over there.”

‛vehicle for permit for agent for place’ = ?

- Wife to husband: “Can you set the table, dear?”

‛object for part of the object (table top) for objects supported by object (on) for action involving objects’ = ?


(ii) Metonymy is not a matter of substitution but

evokes both source and targetThere are a lot of good heads in the university. (= not just ‛people’, but ‛intelligent people’)

He’s got a Picasso in his den. (= not just a ‛painting’, but ‛Picasso’s work in relation to the artist’)

“Metonymic concepts allow us to conceptualize one thing by means of its relations to something else.”

(Lakoff & Johnson 1980)

“An idea that has been activated does not merely evoke one other idea. It activates many ideas, which in turn activate others.”

(D. Kahneman 2011:52)


Interaction view of metaphor(I.A. Richards 1936, Max Black 1955)

“When we use a metaphor we have two thoughts of different things active together and supported by a single word, or phrase, whose meaning is a resultant of their interaction. The reader is forced to connect the two ideas.” (I.A. Richards, Max Black)

“Metaphor is a special case of blending, where elements of two input spaces are projected to form a third space, the blend, with its own distinct properties.” (Langacker 2009: 342)


Metonymy as conceptual blending

Conceptual integration – also known as “blending” or “mental binding” – is a mental operation whose uniform structural and dynamic properties apply over many areas of thought and action, including metaphor and metonymy.

(Turner & Fauconnier 2003)

Metonymy involves the conceptual blending of the concept evoked by the source term and the concept evoked by the intended target.Blending is an online real-time process that creates new meaning through the juxtaposition of familiar material.

(Alac & Coulson 2004)



Integration of Part-Whole Vital RelationsWe point to a picture of a face and say “That’s Jane Doe,” not “That’s the face of Jane Doe.” We have constructed a network mapping the individual to the picture of what seems to us her most salient part, her face. In the blend, the face is projected from one input and the whole person from the other. In the blend, face and person are fused: The face is the personal identity. (Fauconnier &Turner 2002:97)


person face

person with her personal identity


The conceptual blending approach accounts for the fact that the metonymic source concept is not simply erased but is fused with the metonymic target concept, giving rise to emergent meaning in the metonymic blend.

The shoes were neatly tied.


the shoes the laces

the laces were neatly tied

WHOLE FOR PART

the shoes as a whole were neat

(iii) Metonymy is a reference-point phenomenon - and there is

more to it.

Situation metonymies 12

Conceptualizer

Ref.Pt.

target

Dominion

metonymy

targettargettarget

target

22.04.23

Last year, Greece was rescued with a package worth €110 billion


Conceptualizer

Greece

economy

dominion

PLACE FOR ?

budget

state

banks

people

Potential metonymic targets: the people, the banks, the state, the budget, the economy, etc.

22.04.23

PLACE FOR

INSTITUITIONPLACE FORINHABITANTS

PL

AC

E

FO

R S

TA

TE

PLACE FOR ?

(iv) Metonymy is an inferential process

“Metonymies may be called natural inference schemas, i.e. easily activatable associations among concepts that can be used for inferential purposes.”

(Panther & Thornburg 2004)


2. Cognitive steps in communicating a (metonymic) situation


“Please turn on your phone after

the performance.”audience: metonymic inferences

verbalized FINAL SUBEVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT FOR INITIAL SUBEVENT

announcer: metonymic reasoning

- conceptualization: WHOLE EVENT FOR POTENTIAL SUBEVENTS

- frame: theater performance

- virtual inference: FINAL SUBEVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT FOR INITIAL SUBEVENT

- verbalization: “Please turn on your phone after the performance.”


‛turn phone off’‛turn phone on’ ‛public disturbance’

Cognitive steps in communicating a conceptual situation

(i) People typically conceive of a situation as a whole gestalt.


Journalese

Der Opel hatte nicht auf Rot geachtet – er war auch nicht nüchtern.

‘The Opel hadn’t paid attention to the red light – it wasn’t sober either’

(Westdeutsche Zeitung)

Auto flüchtet auf drei Rädern.

‘Car escaped on three wheels’ (Rhein-Zeitung)

Nach dem Unfall sei der etwa 30 bis 40 Jahre alte Volvofahrer ausgestiegen und habe kurz mit dem Notarztwagen gesprochen.

‘After the accident the 30 to 40-year-old Volvo driver was reported to have gotten out of his car and having had a word with the emergency ambulance’ (Nordwest-Zeitung)




(ii) Any situation evokes a complex network of associated concepts.


Network of associated concepts of a situation

and situational metonymies


relation

situation-internal

subevent

time

situation type

reality - potentiality

place

situation

ICM

ICM

situation-external

thing

situational core

manner

property

22.04.23

thing

means

cause

situation

THING-EVENT metonymies

THING FOR PROPERTY: I am just a student

THING FOR EVENT: We’ve always had a nose for the very best.

OBJECT FOR EVENT INVOLVING THE OBJECT: Mary began the book.

THING FOR THE USE OF THE THING: The treadmill burns 200 calories an hour.

OBJECT INVOLVED IN ACTION FOR AGENT: couch potato


PROPERTY metonymies

PROPERTY FOR A THING: You’re insulting my intelligence.

EVENT FOR PROPERTY OF A THING FOR THE THING: pick-up truck


MEANS and MANNER metonymies

MEANS FOR ACTION: He sneezed the napkin off the table.

MANNER OF PERFORMING AN ACTION FOR THE ACTION: I’ll be brief.

MANNER OF PERFORMING AN ACTION WITH A THING FOR A PROPERTY OF THE THING:

Our investors are more interested in long-term, stable, reliable returns than in the fast buck. / fast car

TIME FOR MANNER: permanent talk


CAUSAL metonymies

CAUSE FOR EFFECT: beautify the garden.

CAUSE FOR PURPOSE: donate money for a good cause

EFFECT FOR CAUSE: happy hour ‘times when restaurants reduce their prices on alcoholic beverages’

PRECEDENCE FOR CAUSE: Who started the fight?


SITUATION-TYPE metonymies

STATE FOR EVENT: Paolo Soleri is dead at 83.

SEEING FOR MAKING SURE: Can you see to it.

HABIT FOR SPECIFIC EVENT: Would you care for something to drink? –I never drink.

EVENT FOR STATE: Please fasten seatbelt while seated.

MOTION FOR STATE: The poplar is after the oak.

PROCESS FOR ACTION: The door opened ‘someone opened the door’

RESULT FOR ACTION: Have another cookie.

ACTION FOR RESULT: He is catching a bird./ dermatologically tested

(It doesn't say who or what skin it was tested on. And it doesn't even mean that They PASSED the test.)


POTENTIALITY, ACTUALIT, REALITY

metonymiesPOTENTIAL FOR ACTUAL: I can see your

point./I must admit

you are right.

ACTUAL FOR POTENTIAL: Do you play the piano?/

He is an angry person.

ACTUAL FOR ASSIGNED: Is someone sitting here? –

No, the seat is empty.

SUBJECTIVITY FOR REALITY: That was a penalty.

APPEARANCE FOR REALITY: He looked puzzled.


TIME metonymiesTime-internal:

PAST FOR PRESENT: What was your name?/ This was the supermarket.

POINT IN TIME FOR PERIOD: At the moment there is no news available.

PASSING TIME FOR PRESENT: currently ‘presently’

PROXIMATE TIME FOR DISTANT TIME: Today's syntax is tomorrow's morphology.

Time-external:

EVENT FOR TIME: Christmas; Tok Pisin: yu gat hamas krismas?

THING FOR EVENT FOR TIME: I explained a few classes ago.

THING FOR ACTIVITY FOR TIME TO DO THAT ACTIVITY: She left about two beers ago.

TIME FOR EVENT: 9/11


PLACE metonymies

PLACE FOR EVENT: Greece was not supposed to happen. /Not longer after, Hutton was on the plane./ Jack is on the phone.

EVENT FOR PLACE: He drove through a red light./ bus stop

TIME FOR DISTANCE: From Cologne to Vienna it is ten hours by train.




(ii) Any situation comprises a complex network of associated concepts.

(iii) In “thinking for speaking”, the speaker decides on how to code the situation she wants to communicate in a given language in accordance with principles of cooperation.


Thinking for speaking

Thinking for speaking - a specialized form of thought that is mobilized for communication (Slobin 1996)

English: assert trajectory, imply end-state

The boy climbed the tree.

Spanish: assert end-state, imply trajectory

El niño está subido en el árbol.

‛the boy is climb-PART en [= in/on] the tree’

[= the boy is in a state of having climbed the tree]






(iv) A communicative act is (of necessity) metonymic and hence requires the speaker to gauge its adequacy by anticipating the hearer’s inferential task.


Iconicity in syntax (Posner 1986)

(a) Mr. Smith stopped in front of his house. He waved to a passing neighbor and got out of his car.

(b) Mr. Smith stopped in front of his house. He raised his arm and smiled to a passing neighbor. He pulled the handle of the door of his car, pushed the door open, swung his legs out, heaved his body out, and shut the door.

Inference:

The degree of painstakingness in the presentation of actions conveys the degree of painstakingness of the actions presented.

DETAIL IN FORM FOR DETAIL IN MEANING






(iv) The communicative act is (of necessity) metonymic and hence requires the speaker to gauge its adequacy by anticipating the hearer’s inferential task.

(v) The hearer constructs the speaker’s intended meaning via metonymic inferences.


3. Examples of situational metonymies

(i) POTENTIAL FOR ACTUAL

(ii) PAST FOR PRESENT

(iii) SUBEVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT


(i) POTENTIAL FOR ACTUAL: Inert perception

We can see the moon.


ABILITY:state withpotential

actualization

STATE OF PERCEPTION

We can see the moon.

Input 1 Input 2

Blend

actualizedSTATE OF

PERCEPTION

ABILITY

We are able to see the moon (because it reflects

light from the sun).

STATE OFPERCEPTION

INSTANTANEOUSPERCEPTION

We see the moon.

INSTANTANEOUSPERCEPTION

can see

see

ecological motivation

able to see

Verbs of perception and cognition

Google search“I see the moon” 3,920,000“I can see the moon” 1,280,000

“I see a mouse” 246,000“I can see a mouse” 17

“I hear a mouse” 27,700“I can hear a mouse” 174,000

“I heard the slam” 308,000“I could hear the slam” 22

“I understand the problem” 2,750,000“I can understand the problem” 7,020,000

“I now understand the problem” 226,000“I can now understand the problem” 15


restaurant script

(ii) PRESENT FOR PAST:Compression of time

Wer bekam die Gulaschsuppe? ‘Who received the goulash soup’ (Comrie 1985:20)


pastordering

presentbeing served

blend

pastordering

being served

Compression of times of preceding and present events in the past

IMMEDIACY FOR DISTANCE

(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR PAST: narrative present, historical present, scientific present, headlines,etc.emergent meanings: immediacy, liveliness


IMMEDIACY FOR DISTANCE:(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR PAST/FUTURE

Narrative present

A wife asks her husband, “Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk and if they have avocados, get 6.”

A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk.

The wife asks him, “Why did you buy 6 cartons of milk?”

He replied, “They had avocados.”

Headline

David Beckham retiresEngland’s most capped player and arguably the most famous player on the planet, David Beckham, announced his retirement on 16 May, 2013.


IMMEDIACY FOR DISTANCE

(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR PAST: narrative present, historical present, scientific present, headlines,etc.emergent meanings: immediacy, liveliness

(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR FUTURE and HYPOTHETICALITYscheduled future: emergent meaning: present availabilityconditional clause: If it rains tomorrow, we will stay in the house. The protasis is construed as factual relative to a hypothetical future configuration. (Fauconnier 1997) emergent meaning: present reasoning (?):

(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR RECURRENCErecurrent (habitual) events fused into one eventemergent meaning: characteristic property: John smokes.

(VIRTUAL) PRESENT FOR TIMELESSNESSgeneralizations, general truths, minutes, captions, stage directions, etc.emergent meaning: present validity


(iii) WHOLE SITUATION – SUBEVENTS


whole situation

co-present subevent successive subevents

concomitant

salient

peripheral

CO-PRESENT SUBEVENTS: SALIENT and CONCOMITANT

SUBEVENTS


Situational ICM comprising two co-present blended subevents

salientsubevent

concomitantsubevent

SOUND FOR NOISY AND FAST

MOTIONSOUND

MANNER

MOTION

MANNER FOR ROUGH

MOTIONThe airplane bounced its way to a halt.

MOTION

ACTION

SOUNDThe shop assistant rang up the purchase on the cash register.

SOUND FOR SLOW AND TRADITIONAL

ACTION

The train roared over the mountain tracks.

metonymic highlighting of concomitant subeventand emergent´meaning

VERBAL

NON-VERBAL The queen raised an eyebrow yesterday

NON-VERBAL FOR VERBAL COMMUNICATIONwhen she was told of a play about a man who has a passionate affair with his pet goat.

CO-PRESENT SUBEVENTS:SALIENT and PERIHERAL SUBEVENTS


Situtional ICM comprising several co-present subevents

subevents

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: My wife speaks Finnish = ‘she speaks,

understands, writes and reads Finnish’but: I don’t read Hebrew.

SALIENT SUBEVENT FOR SET OF SUBEVENTS

metonymic highlighting of a salient subevent

speaking, understanding,writing, reading

EVENTS IN FALL 1989: SALIENT SUBEVENT FOR COMPLEX SUBEVENTSfall of the Berlin Wall,

opening of the borders,visa-free travel, freedom of speech, free elections, etc.

When the wall came down = ‘unspecific sum of co-present subevents’

CO-PRESENT SUBEVENTI have been sitting behind the

wheel all day.The interpretation of this sentence involves:

a) PERIPHERAL SUBEVENT EVENT FOR WHOLE SITUATION: sitting behind the wheel = ‘driving’, in particular steering

b) blending of the peripheral (passive) event of sitting behind the steering wheel and the central (active) event of driving

c) emergent meaning derived from sitting: the journey was long, tiring, tedious, boring, etc.


sitting behind the wheel (Google)

Have been sitting behind the steering-wheel for more than six hours today. Driving, driving, driving. It seems that there is nothing more natural than driving. Streets, boulevards, avenues, highways, freeways, backside alleys. Six hours driving without changing places.

(= endless and tiring activity of driving)

From the very first time you sit behind the wheel, your car becomes an important part of your life.

(= first experience of driving)

25% of Britons would sit behind the wheel after drinking alcohol, according to the poll.

(= drinking and driving)


CO-REPRESENT SUBEVENTS: Playing a musical instrument

The ICM of ‘playing a musical instrument’ comprises the following aspects:

1. a musical instrument

four types of instrument according to the means of sound production:

brass, woodwind, percussion, and string instruments

2. the production of sound

3. the production of music by a musician playing a tune on a musical instrument


Playing a musical instrument in different languages

English: production of music: you play an instrument

Finnish: production of sound: you sound an instrument

Japanese: different means of sound production: you pluck, blow, beat, or sound an instrument

Hausa: one means of sound production: you hit an instrument


Playing a musical instrument in Japanese

String instruments (guitar, violin, viola, harpsichord, piano, organ, accordion, etc.) are ‘plucked’ (hiku).

Brass and woodwind instruments (trumpet, trombone, flute, oboe, recorder, harmonica, etc.) are ‘blown’ (fuku).

Percussion instruments (drum, castanets, tambourine, xylophone, etc.) are ‘beaten’ (tataku).

Percussion instruments that are shaken (maracas, handbell, etc.) are ‘sounded’ (narasu).

Playing any musical instrument in a performance is expressed as ‘musical.performance-do’ (ensoo-suru).

Situation metonymies4822.04.23

Whole situation– subevents


whole situation

co-present subevent

precondition initial central final

successive subevents

concomitant

salient

end

peripheral

SUCCESSIVE SUBEVENTS FOR WHOLE EVENT “travel” ICM (Lakoff)

“How did you get to the party?”

Precondition: “I have a car.”

Embarkation: “I hopped on a bus.”

Center: “I drove.”

Finish: You park and get out.

End point: You are at your destination


Means of getting to a place


I borrowedDad's car.

I have a car.

I got behind the steering wheel.

EstablishingPrecondition CenterEmbarkationPreconditionMeans

I drove.

by car

You can get here in no time.

I now have adriver's license.

by bus They openeda new bus line.

There is a bus stop close by.

I hoppedon the bus.

I came by bus.

walking I love walking.

I walked over.

Final

I came by car

I jumped into the car.

They have builta new road.

This is within walking distance.

I put on mywalking shoes.

I just boughta new car.

I passed thedriver's test.

Friends alwayslend me their cars.

I tookthe bus.

I came on foot.

SUCCESSIVE SUBEVENTS FOR WHOLE SITUATION:

focus on different subevents


whole event

precondition initial central finish

Phoning ICM:

end

Just pick up the phone.

I made a phone call.

I slammed down the phone.

We are cut off.

There is the phone.

Paper-gradingICM:

There was a pile of papers waiting to be graded.

I read the papers.

I marked all the mistakes.

I graded the papers.

I returned the papers.

Doctor's visit ICM:

My wife was sick.

She went to see the doctor.

The doctor examined her.

The doctor prescribed green pills.

She is feeling better now.

Booking ICM (in soccer games): Caution and removal from the game

Yellow card:

A playing card-sized card that a referee holds up to warn a player for dangerous or unsportsmanlike behavior; also called a caution.

Red card:

A playing card-sized card that a referee holds up to signal a player's removal from the game, presented for violent behavior or multiple law infractions.


The referee gives a card to a player


Referee Peter Frojdfeldt, right, from Sweden, gives a yellow card to Italy's Luca Toni, second left, during the group C match between the Netherlands and Italy in Bern, Switzerland, Monday, June 9, 2008, at the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships in Austria and Switzerland.

22.04.23

SUCCESSIVE AND CO-PRESENT SUBEVENTS in the booking ICM

Precondition: A player displays dangerous or violent behavior.

Initial, preparatory subevents:

a) The referee walks over to the player.

b) The referee dips/ reached into his pocket/ fumbles in his pocket.

c) The referee pulls out a red card/ fishes a red card out of his pocket.

Central subevents: performative booking act:

a) The referee holds up/ brandishes/ waves the red card.

b) The referee shows/ gives/ wields/ issues the player the red card.

c) The player is shown/ sees/ receives/ gets the red card.

d) The player picks up/ earns/ draws a red card.

Final, ensuing subevents: the player is booked:

The player is sent off/ banished from the field/ removed from the game.


Some unresolved, thorny problems

1. What is the target of situational metonymies?

If the metonymic target is taken to be the central subevent, e.g. I drove in the ‘getting to a place’ ICM, then I hopped on the bus would be metonymic, but I drove would not.

If the metonymic target is taken to be the ICM, then all subevents including the central one (I drove) would metonymically stand for the ‘getting to a place’ ICM.

2. If the central subevent is taken to be the metonymic target, what counts as a central event? (e.g. holding up a card/ showing a card/ giving a card?)

3. Are metonymies language specific or conceptual, or both? For example, is the English expression play an instrument metonymic even when there are no alternative expressions available in English?


Summarizing conclusions:Four suggestions for future

research on metonymy- The important notion of association in metonymy needs to be

supplemented and substantiated by psychological and neurological research.

- The metonymic vehicle deserves more attention, especially inits interaction with the metonymic target and its contribution to emergent meaning.

- The motivation of a given metonymy and constraints on metonymic processes are central issues in a cognitive approch to metonymy.

- The speaker’s stance in conceptualizing and producing metonymies deserves as much attention as the hearer’s stance in inferring their meaning.


ReferencesBierwiaczonek, B. 2013. Metonymy in Language, Thought and Brain. Sheffield: Equinox.

Comrie, B. 1985: Tense. Cambridge: C.U.P.

Fauconnier, G. and M. Turner. 2002. The Way We Think. New York: Basic Books.

Herrero Ruiz, Javier. 2011. The role of metonymy in complex tropes: Cognitive operations and pragmatic implications. In R. Benczes, A Barcelona, and F. José Ruiz de Mendoza, eds., Defining Metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics: Towards a consensus view, 167-93. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.

Kahnemann, D. 2011. Thinking Fast and Slow. London: Penguin.

Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Panther, K.-U. and L Thornburg. 1999. The potentiality for actuality metonymy in English and Hungarian. In K.-U. Panther and G. Radden, eds., Metonymy in Language and Thought, 332-57. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.

Posner, Roland. 1986. Iconicity in syntax: The natural order of attributes. In P. Bouissac, M. Herzfeld, and R. Posner, eds., Iconicity: Festschrift for Thomas A. Sebeok, 305-337. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.

Slobin, D. 1996. From “thought and language” to “thinking for speaking”. In Gumperz and Levinson, eds., Rethinking Linguistic Relativity,70-96. Cambridge: C.U.P.


situational metonymies

Documents

situation metonymiesis

situation metonymies1

situation metonymiesstructure1

object table

matter of substitution

metonymic associations

artist metonymic concepts

metonymic situation3