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Substance-based Grammar – The (Ongoing) Work of John Anderson
Edited by Roger Böhm and Harry van der Hulst
[Studies in Language Companion Series 204] 2018
► pp. 311–336

Figurativeness in English grammar

The role of metonymic tropes and schemes of repetition

| University of Edinburgh

This chapter considers the relationship between constructions and certain kinds of figurative language, namely metonymic tropes and schemes of repetition. The role of metonymy in shifts from morphological compounds to derivational affixes is explored, along with creation of affixoids. The chapter then discusses the diverse reduplication patterns of English. Both partial (e.g. nitwit) and full (e.g. night-night) reduplications are explored. It is suggested that speakers of English have conventionalised reduplicative patterns in different ways, some of which have resulted in atomic and substantive constructions, such as hush-hush ‘secret’, and some of which have resulted in more complex and schematic constructions, such as the contrastive focus reduplication construction (e.g. I need a drink-drink, not tea).

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Figurativeness and grammar
    • 2.1Figurativeness and grammar in language change
    • 2.2Beyond lexical figures
  • 3.Metonymy
    • 3.1Some introductory remarks on metonymy
    • 3.2Metonymy, word-formation and entry into the lexicon
    • 3.3Beyond conversion
  • 4.Repetition and reduplication
    • 4.1Partial reduplications
    • 4.2Total reduplications
      • 4.2.1Epizeuxis reduplications
      • 4.2.2Ploce reduplications
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.204.07tro
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