Metaphor, Metonymy, Language Learning and Translation
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Metaphor, Metonymy, Language Learning and Translation Charles Thursby Denroche Institute ofEducation, University ofLondon, London, UK PhD Thesis Supervisor: Professor David Block Abstract ofThesis This thesis investigates the role ofmetonymy in communication, in creating text, in learner communication and in translation. I make the claim that metonymy, defined here as the ability to recognize part-whole relations between things, words and concepts, is the essential mechanism behind a whole variety oflinguistic phenomena, normally dealt with in linguistics as distinct topics. In the General Theory ofMetonymy presented here, I suggest that metonymy is a unifying principle behind how we process language. I discuss a range ofdata to demonstrate metonymy at work. I show that metonymic principles are not just in play in metonymic language but also in metaphoric and literal language. I argue that metonymy not only offers alternative ways ofreferring to entities, but is powerful in giving nuance and spin, and is the key to understanding why language is so fit for purpose in giving us the flexibility and subtlety so important in our social dealings with others. I illustrate the role metonymy plays in our lives by examining data from social and recreational activities where metonymy is central and seems to be explored for its own sake. In the Metonymic Theory ofLeamer Communication I propose that learner communication relies in a number ofdifferent ways on metonymic processing; and in the Metonymic Theory ofTranslation I propose that translation also relies heavily on metonymic processing. The burgeoning interest in metonymy in recent years has generated an extensive literature. This thesis attempts to make sense ofthis body ofknowledge, offers an original synthesis ofit, proposes how it might be developed and suggests practical applications ofit. I suggest that a new discipline of Metonymies might emerge and that this could make a valuable contribution in reframing issues ofdebate in a variety ofdifferent areas ofpractice. I am indebted to my supervisor, partner and informants for their contribution to this thesis. - 2 - I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Wordcount exclusive ofappendices and bibliography: 82,328 words Charles Thursby Denroche - 3 - Table ofContents Chapter 1 Introduction p6 Chapter 2 Modelling the Linguistic Mind p21 Chapter 3 The Ability to Metaphorize p46 Chapter 4 The Vital Role ofMetonymy in p81 Conceptualization and Communication Chapter 5 Metonymy in Culture andRecreation p118 Chapter 6 Metonymy, Metaphor, Discourse and Text p149 Chapter 7 Metonymy and Language Learners p188 Chapter 8 Metonymy and Translators p216 Chapter 9 Conclusion andImplications p252 Appendix A List ofSources ofPrimary Data p263 Appendix B List ofReferences to Primary Data p264 from Publications and Broadcasts Bibliography p267 - 4 - List ofTables and Figures Figure 1.1 ' Using', 'doing' and 'knowing' metaphor p40 Figure 1.2 'Using', 'doing' and 'knowing' pragmatics p41 Figure 1.3 Modelling the bilingual mind p43 Table 3.1 Comparison ofterms p49 Figure 3.1 Stack ofCounters for champagne p66 Figure 3.2 Stack ofCounters for vision and tap p67 Figure 3.3 Stacks ofCounters for Spainand Italy p72 Table 3.2 Four domains ofmetaphorfunction - as a grid p78 Table 3.3 Four domains ofmetaphorfunction - summary p80 Table 4.1 'floating rib' p95 Table 4.2 'rib cage' p97 Table 4.3 'answering machine' p99 Table 4.4 'mobile phone' piOI Figure 5.1 Parody ofSgt. Pepper album cover pI41 Figure 6.1 Virgin Active healthclubs publicity material pI64 Figure 6.2 Silk Cut cigarette packets - front pI70 Figure 6.3 Silk Cut cigarette packets - back pI71 Figure 6.4 Front ofBNP card pI79 Figure 6.5 Reverse ofBNP card pI80 Figure 7.1 Diagram from Levelt (1989:9) p209 Figure 8.1 'Normal' communication p228 Figure 8.2 Translation and interpreting p228 Figure 8.3 Translation and interpreting - the translator's role p229 Figure 8.4 Krings' model (1986:269) p231 Figure 8.5 Bell's model (1991:59) p233 Figure 8.6 The beaters p240 Figure 8.7 Inserting the beaters p240 - 5 - 1 Introduction This thesis is about metonymy. By 'metonymy' I mean the recognition ofpart-whole relatedness between things, words and concepts. The thesis comes from an overwhelming impression, gained over many years, that metonymy plays a fundamental role in conceptualization and communication and that its role has not been fully recognized. This impression has been gained from everyday observations ofnaturally occurring language but also from my experience as a language professional in the fields oftranslation, lexicography and language teaching. The thesis presents a 'general theory' ofmetonymy, that is, a theory which extends the notion ofmetonymy beyond the sphere in which it is normally considered to a more general application. In so doing, a commonality is uncovered among a whole range ofsemiotic and linguistic phenomena, normally seen as distinct. This is not an exercise simply ofrenaming; it is more ambitious than that. It reveals that what, at first, appear to be diverse phenomena rely on the same basic and universal cognitive operation, the ability to recognise relatedness. Things, words and concepts are related ifthey have something in common, ifa part-whole relationship exists between them. The part may be a physical part or an attribute. It is the manipulation ofthese 'parts' which allows us to realise the full meaning-making potential ofthe lexicon. It is argued in this thesis that morphology, syntax, lexis and phraseology only account for basic meaning making in language and that it is metonymy which gives us the flexibility and subtleties, on and above those systems, on which we constantly rely in our social dealings with others. The thesis starts from the observation that conventional metonymic expressions in English, such as pay with plastic, the small screen, go for a bite, a roofover your head, bums on seats, are common; it progressed by recognizing that metonymy does not just provide an alternative way ofreferring to things, but plays a role in giving nuance, eg swingeing cuts versus efficiency savings (because both refer to the same thing, but each highlights a different aspect); it went on to the observation that metonymy operates at many different levels, from the sub-word level, eg creating metaphorical meaning, to the - 6 - level ofdiscourse and intertext, where a set ofindependent texts associated through shared genre features. Further, metonymy is not only prevalent but often salient in everyday communication, many interactions revolving around a metonymic component to such an extent that the metonymic associations become what the interaction is 'about', rather than just a means to an end. In order to confirm this hunch, I set myselfthe task ofnoting down examples ofsuch interactions in which metonymy played a central role to which I was party over a two day period. Among them was a range of exchanges, some involving language, some not. Some interactions involved individual words or phrases, such as: discussing what Sasha was short for and why Cantab stands for Cambridge not Canterbury (the relation between short and long forms); solving a 'quick' crossword (the clues ask for synonyms); discussing the origin ofthe expressions to be buff, buffup, to be in the buff, etc (the etymology goes back to buffalo through a series ofshifts); identifying someone at a party using a salient characteristic, eg the woman wearing red boots; observing an advertisement on the London underground with invented names for stations based on foods, the invented names and the real names being related in form, eg Oxtail Circus/Oxford Circus, Highbury & Biscuit Tin/Highbury and Islington; the use of salient personal characteristics ofappearance when hailing someone, eg Hey fatsol, You, Michael Palin! Other interactions involved metonymy as an organizing principle at the level ofthe whole discourse, such as: being asked what my favourite scene was in a film (part for whole); a TV reporter interviewing individuals in the crowd on the banks ofthe Thames waiting for the New Year fireworks (individual testimonies used to convey a general sense ofwhat it was like to be there). Others were not verbal but involved similarities ofother kinds: playing a card game where the aim is to end up with sets of related cards, either adjacent numbers in the same suit or the same number in different suits (cards in each set share characteristics); playing Sudoku (grids and lines of numbers are compared for similarities); sorting out a spare room by ordering things by category (putting like with like); being told "customers who bought this book also bought ...", when buying a book on Amazon (similarities in past choices may help to predict future choices); remarking on the similarity between people one encounters and figures in the public eye ('lookalikes'). These are all activities in which the recognition ofpart-whole relationships plays a central role. - 7 - A social science thesis often contains a rigorously collected and analysed central body ofdata and chapters devoted to methods ofdata collection and analysis. The present thesis departs from this methodology. Here the argument is progressed in stages, the conclusion ofone stage becoming the premise for the next, a methodology which could be broadly described as a reflective or speculative approach, what some would characterize as the "armchair" linguistics tradition. The purpose here