A note on the relative diachronic productivity of metaphor and metonymy

Dirk Geeraerts | University of Leuven

Lisbeth De Laet | University of Leuven

The assumption that the progress of culture is characterized by an increase in abstract thinking (in terms of the Vygotskyan model of cognitive development) suggests that the proportion of productive metaphor compared to metonymy increases over time. However, a large-scale investigation of metonymical and metaphoric shifts recorded in Buck’s dictionary of Indo-European synonyms does not support that suggestion.

Keywords: diachronic productivity, metaphor, metonymy, Indo-European, Vygotsky, synonymy

Published online: 02 April 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.25.05gee