The Michael Jackson of Two Or Three Noses Ago and the Michael Jackson of Today – Multiple Personalities Or Conceptual Metonymy?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Jezikoslovlje 8.1 (2007): 27-44 ɱ 27 UDC 811.111'373.612.2'373.231 Original scientific paper Received on 06.11. 2007. Accepted for publication 28.11. 2007. Sanja Berberoviü Faculty of Philosophy University of Tuzla The Michael Jackson of two or three noses ago and the Michael Jackson of today – multiple personalities or conceptual metonymy? The paper deals with the construction of the figurative meaning of personal names in expressions of the type the X of Y, in which X is a personal name designating humans and Y designates a temporal period. Such expressions, used in connection with the original bearer of the name, are considered to be instances of partitive re- strictive modification. Applying the findings of Barcelona (2003, 2004) and Brdar and Brdar-Szabó (2007) concerning the figurative meaning of personal names, the paper illustrates that the ENTITY FOR ACTIVE ZONE metonymy is an essential tool in explaining how the figurative meaning of personal names arises in expressions of this type. As a result of partitive restrictive modification, the original bearer of the personal name is figuratively split into distinct individuals due to the ENTITY FOR ACTIVE ZONE metonymy. Key words: personal names, figurative meaning, partitive restrictive modifica- tion, the ENTITY FOR ACTIVE ZONE metonymy 1. Introduction Proper names have attracted the attention of linguists and philosophers alike for centuries. There are numerous linguistic and philosophical insights into proper names, each focusing on different aspects. Some of these theories have had wide application and have been of great importance, while others are merely unsuc- cessful attempts to construct a valid theory of proper nouns. Philosophy of lan- guage has produced studies on the reference of proper names: some hold that Sanja Berberoviþ: ɱ 28 The Michael Jackson of two or three noses ago proper names do not have semantic value, while some even go so far as to claim that proper names are not part of language (cf. Frege 1952, Searle 1958, Putnam 1975, Kripke 1972/1980).1 Furthermore, linguistic theories describe, with greater or lesser success, the grammatical makeup and behavior of proper nouns and touch upon their reference. Recent publications on proper nouns (Anderson 2007, Lehrer 1999) confirm that proper nouns remain an interesting and peren- nial topic in linguistic research. Unlike the aforementioned philosophical studies, cognitive linguists (cf. Cruse 2000, Barcelona 2003, 2004) have arrived at the conclusion that proper nouns do have both a meaning and a reference. Furthermore, a number of recent studies written within the framework of cognitive linguistics (Barcelona 2003, 2004, Brdar and Brdar-Szabó 2007, Brdar 2007) focus on the figurative meaning of proper nouns as accompanied by their irregular morpho-syntactic behavior. The findings of these papers show that cognitive linguistics, with its theory of metaphor and metonymy, is able to shed light on the figurative use of proper names, and indeed offers precisely the explanation lacking in classical theories of proper names. This paper follows in the footsteps of Barcelona (2003, 2004) and Brdar and Brdar-Szabó (2007) in exploring proper names. Specifically, it deals with ex- pressions of the type the X of Y, in which X is a personal name and Y designates temporal periods. Such expressions are used in connection with the original bearer of the name and are regarded as instances of partitve restrictive modifica- tion. The paper is an extension of the work of Barcelona and Brdar and Brdar- Szabó in that it considers the conceptual metonymy ENTITY FOR ACTIVE ZONE es- sential in explaining how the figurative meaning of personal names arises in ex- pressions of this type. The first part of the paper presents cases of irregular behavior of personal names, providing examples and discussing the consequences of such irregular behavior. The second part focuses on the construction of the figurative meaning of personal names in expressions of the type the X personal name of Y in which Y designates a temporal period and the original bearer of the personal name is figuratively split into distinct individuals due to the ENTITY FOR ACTIVE ZONE metonymy. Finally, the paper presents general conclusions drawn from the analysis and prospects for further research. 1 For a summary of basic ideas behind the direct-reference doctrine and the reference-via- meaning doctrine cf. Machery et al. (2004). For criticism of the direct-reference doctrine and the reference-via-meaning doctrine cf. Lakoff (1987: 162ff), Lakoff and Johnson (1999: 98ff), Cruse (2000: 315-318), Brdar and Brdar-Szabó (2007: 127-129) Jezikoslovlje 8.1 (2007): 27-44 ɱ 29 2. On irregular morpho-syntactic behavior of personal names In their chapters devoted to nouns, descriptive grammars (Quirk et al. 1985: 288-297, Greenbaum and Quirk 1990: 86-88, Biber et al. 1999: 245-247) state that the principal difference between common nouns and proper nouns resides in the lack of determination, number contrast and modification. Furthermore, proper nouns exhibit more restricted morpho-syntactic features than do common nouns, due to their unique denotation. In cognitive grammar terms (Langacker 1991: 59), the difference between common and proper nouns is that the semantic functions of proper nouns, i.e. type, instantiation, quantity, and grounding, are fused together in a single expression. Langacker (1991: 101f) points out that a personal name “incorporates the idealized cognitive model which specifies that it is borne by, and suffices to identify, just one individual”. However, descriptive grammars also provide exceptions to the rules men- tioned above and discuss circumstances under which proper nouns can appear with determiners, besides being modified and marked for number. In examples (1)-(3), retrieved from Google, personal names exhibit such irregular morpho- syntactic behavior. In (1) a. and b. personal names appear with indefinite arti- cles; in (2) a personal name is accompanied by the definite article and plural- ized; in (3) personal names are nonrestrictively premodified; in (4) a.-c. personal names are restrictively postmodified and, in addition, (4) b. and c. can be treated as instances of partitive restrictive modification. (1) a. Every time a Maltese is seen on the celebrity arm of an Elizabeth Taylor, a Wayne Newton or a Halle Berry, the perception of the Mal- tese as a pristine white lounge ornament is advanced. b. Hezbollah’s defenders continue to paint its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, as an Arafat, not a bin Laden. (2) I guarantee you that the ones with staying power, the Julia Roberts, the Brad Pitts, they all have talent, in some manner, and then they have this other energy. I don’t know what it is, but I ain’t got it. (3) I love the beautiful Angelina Jolie and the handsome Brad Pitt. (4) a. “This isn’t just a rare bird, this is the Brad Pitt of birds, one everyone wants to see,” Stiteler said. “Then imagine 5,000 or more Brad Pitts in one area in one winter. Most of us are happy if we see one or two in a year. But to see 10 or 20 or more in one day...you can imagine how bird people got a little excited.” Sanja Berberoviþ: ɱ 30 The Michael Jackson of two or three noses ago b. I’m sure there’s a difference between the Julia Roberts who eats pizza and the Julia Roberts you read about in the tabloids. Writing about ce- lebrity is a way of crystallizing those issues. c. America’s early assessment of bin Laden was similarly flawed. In the American mind, of course, the bin Laden of April, 1998, was not the bin Laden of September, 2001. But his intentions were no secret. Two months before the Richardson meeting, bin Laden had issued a fatwa, a religious ruling, in which he called on Muslims to kill Americans— civilians and military. The irregular morpho-syntactic behavior of proper nouns has important con- sequences for their grammatical status and semantic value. According to the standard grammars mentioned above, a consequence of irregular behavior of proper nouns is the reclassification of proper nouns as common nouns. Proper nouns exhibiting such unusual behavior no longer have unique denotation. In view of cognitive grammar, Langacker (1991: 59f) points out that, in certain cases, which are in contradiction with the idealized cognitive model, the ideal- ized cognitive model is suspended and a proper noun behaves as a common noun, permitting determination and modification, and showing number contrast. This further implies that the type/instance distinction, which is neutralized with proper names, applies when a proper name is treated as a common noun. Lan- gacker (1991: 59) concludes that a proper name “acts as a common noun gram- matically because it is so treated semantically, i.e. the grammatical behavior is symptomatic of its meaning”. Another consequence of such behavior of proper nouns - the consequence that this paper focuses on - is that such proper names have figurative meaning. Cog- nitive linguists (Radden and Kövecses 1999, Barcelona 2003, 2004, Brdar and Brdar-Szabó 2007, Brdar 2007) believe that cognitive mechanisms, namely metaphor and metonymy, are involved in the construction of the figurative meaning of proper nouns. Radden and Kövecses (1999: 35) briefly mention the use of a WHOLE FOR PART metonymy, namely CATEGORY FOR DEFINING PROP- ERTY, though which a category stands for a stereotypical property of an individ- ual and the name acquires a figurative meaning. However, such an approach may seem oversimplified in comparison to the complementary models proposed by Barcelona, and Brdar and Brdar-Szabo. Barcelona (2003, 2004) discusses at length the irregular behavior of proper nouns and the construction of the figura- tive meaning from the stand point of conceptual metonymy and Lakoff’s (1987) metonymic models, namely stereotypes and paragons.