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Proverbs within Cognitive Linguistics: State of the art
Edited by Sadia Belkhir
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 16] 2024
► pp. 40–64

Chapter 2
Metonymic layers in proverbs

A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural view

| University of Osijek , Croatia | ELTE, Budapest , Hungary
| University of Osijek , Croatia | ELTE, Budapest , Hungary
| University of Osijek , Croatia | ELTE, Budapest , Hungary

Metonymy can be manifest at several levels in proverbs. In this chapter, we identify five such metonymic layers. We first examine whole proverbs as instances of the specific-for-generic metonymy. Secondly, proverbs can be seen as indirect speech acts in which an element of a speech act scenario can stand metonymically for the whole of the associated illocutionary category. Proverbs can also appear in reduced form, and the part that is retained is capable of metonymically evoking the whole. A phrase within a proverb can occasionally be interpreted as an instance of the metonymy participant for event. Finally, a part of a proverb can receive a non-event metonymic interpretation that may even happen systematically, as in the case of weather proverbs.

Keywords: metonymy, generic-specific mapping, illocutionary metonymy, indirect speech act, usage-based model, truncated proverb, topic-comment
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Defining proverbs: Structural and functional-pragmatic aspects
  • 3.On metonymy as a cognitive operation
  • 4.Metonymic layers in proverbs
    • 4.1Metonymy at the level of the whole proverb
      • 4.1.1Proverbs as results of metonymy
      • 4.1.2Metonymy and the illocutionary force of proverbs
    • 4.2Metonymic layers within a proverb
      • 4.2.1Truncated proverbs and metonymy
      • 4.2.2Metonymic interpretation of a word group within a proverb: Events as metonymic targets
      • 4.2.3Metonymic interpretation of constituents (within phrases)
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 May 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.16.02brd
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