Publications
Publication details [#2841]
Brdar, Mario. 2003. Metonymic motivation in English grammar: The case of the TENSE-ASPECT-MOOD system. Technology Enhanced Foreign Language Education 47-48 : 37–50. 14 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Abstract
It is traditionally assumed that metonymy plays hardly any role outside the lexicon, and is thus largely irrelevant to grammar. The present paper attempts to show the contrary: that metonymy has a series of long-ranging ramifications in the grammatical system. By specifically considering the role of metonymy in motivating certain phenomena in the English TENSE-ASPECT-MOOD (TAM) system, the paper demonstrates that the metonymic operations at play in this system form an orderly and internally coherent system.
(Mario Brdar)