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Figurative Meaning Construction in Thought and Language
Edited by Annalisa Baicchi
[Figurative Thought and Language 9] 2020
► pp. 225–252

Figures of speech revisited

Introducing syntonymy and syntaphor

| Jan Długosz University of Częstochowa

The aim of the paper is to add the terms and concepts of synecdochic metonymy (syntonymy) and synecdochic metaphor (syntaphor) to the traditional typology of figures of speech. It is argued that the two additional terms are useful as they cover important intermediate categories of transfers of meaning between synecdoche, understood as vertical transfer based on various levels of taxonomy, and two other “master tropes”, namely metonymy and metaphor. The proposed concepts and terms may not only help identify and designate certain borderline cases of figurative language, but also add precision and adequacy to the analyses of lexical polysemy. They may also contribute to a cognitive account of catachresis.

Keywords: metonymy, metaphor, synecdoche, master tropes, polysemy, catachresis, basic level
Article outline
  • 1.Between synecdoche and metonymy – syntonymy
  • 2.From analogy to syntaphor and metaphor
    • 2.1Syntaphor vs. schematization and specialization
  • 3.Catachresis and conceptual niches vs. syntaphor and other figures of speech
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.9.10bie
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