Publications

Publication details [#6901]

Kövecses, Zoltán and Günter Radden. 1998. Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics 9 (1) : 37–77. 41 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English

Abstract

In the traditional view, metonymy is a matter of words (language); the metonymic process involves a transfer of the meaning of words which have reference; metonymy is a "stand-for" relationship between names; it is a relationship between two entities, where the nature of the relationship is generally assumed to be one of "contiguity" or "proximity". By contrast, we argue for a comprehensive and integrated cognitivist view which involves the following: (1) identifying the ontological realms in which metonymy can occur; (2) specifying the types of conceptual relationships that obtain between elements in a metonymic relationship; (3) establishing those cognitive and communicative principles that select the most "natural" vehicle-to-target routes; (4) discovering the conditions under which "non-default routes" can be selected. (Zoltán Kövecses and Günter Radden)