Metonymy

Metonymy is based on contiguity (смежность, соприкосновение, контакт) - of objects or phenomena. Metonymy is applying the name of and object to another object in some way connected with the first.

Two kinds of metonymy can be distinguished:

1. – linguistic metonymy

2. – stylistic metonymy.

1) Linguistic metonymy is a means of nomination and it serves to enrich lexical means of the language.

Arterial roads, railway lines, building estates, factories, hundreds of separate townships with their churches, municipal and shopping centers were all linked together by continuous masonry and seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon.

Here we have a linguistic metonymy masonry – каменная кладка. When translating it’s impossible to preserve this linguistic metonymy.

Магистрали, железнодорожные пути, жилые кварталы, заводы, сотни отдельных городков, каждый со своей церковью, муниципалитетом и торговым центром – все они слились в одно целое благодаря бесконечному множеству домов, простиравшихся до самого горизонта.

2) Metonymy as a stylistic device is a deliberate intensification of some feature, is emphasizing some process or phenomenon.

“Miss Tox’s hand trembled as she slipped it through Mr.Dombey’s arm, and felt herself escorted up the stairs, preceded by a cocked (треуголка) hat and a Babylonian collar”. (Dickens) (огромный, красный)

The function of this substitution is to point out the insignificance of the wearer, for his personality is reduced to his externally conspicuous features, the hat and the collar.

“My brass will call your brass”, says one of the characters of A. Hailey’s Airport to another, meaning “My boss will call your boss”. The transference of names is caused by both bosses being officers, wearing uniform caps with brass [bra:s] cockades.(кокарда)

Classification

Many linguists tried to define the types of relation which metonymy is based on. The following are most common:

1.A concrete thing used instead of an abstract notion.

2.The container instead of the thing contained. The hall applauded.

3.The relation of proximity: The round game table was boisterous and happy.

4.The material instead of the thing made of it: The marble spoke.

5.The instrument which the doer uses in performing some action; “As the sword is the worst argument that can be used, so should it be the last”.

6.The place instead of the event.

7.The name may be used for works of the person.

8.An item of the clothes used for the person.

The scope of transference in metonymy is much more limited than that of metaphor, because the scope of human imagination identifying two objects on the grounds of commonness of one of their innumerable characteristics is boundless. And actual relations between objects are more limited. This is why metonymy is a less frequent SD, than metaphor.

Sometimes it might be rather difficult to differentiate between metaphor and metonymy. There is one way to do it: metaphor can be easily transformed into simile, and in case with metonymy it is impossible.

As a rule metonymy is expressed by nouns and is used in syntactical functions of nouns (subject, object, predicate). Metonymy can be expressed by different parts of the sentence. Metonymy can be a 1) noun, 2) an adjective, 3) a verb.

1. You see, there was my uniform, and one thing and another. My lady put me into collars and cuffs (ошейник, хомут, наручник).

2. At this moment music stopped and they went to sit on two chairs against the wall. Leila tucked her pink satin feet under and fanned herself.

In this example the object (feet) is characterized by a feature (pink, satin) of some other object (shoes) which is in the metonymic relations with the first object (feet). (The relation of contiguity - смежность, соприкосновение).

Feet

Pink, satin

Shoes

Another example: ..Rosemary stepped forward and said to that dim person beside her:” Come to tea with me”.

Dim person – person standing in a dim light.

3) The woman paused on the step, looking both ways before stepping down and clicking across the cobbles to Christe.

Another example: “It’s her fu-fur which is so funny,” giggled the girl. “It’s exactly like a fried whiting. (мерланг)“

The verb metonymy represents the action through some feature accompanying this action.

Synecdoche

One type of metonymy is viewed independently – it is synecdoche – the mention of a part for the whole: to be a comrade with a wolf and owl – in this example “wolf” and “owl” stand for wild beasts in general. Hands wanted –нужны рабочие руки.

Stylistic functions: descriptive, humorous, ironic, characteristic.

Antonomasia.

It can be also regarded as a kind of metonymy. It is a lexical SD in which a proper name (имя собственное) is used instead of a common noun (имя нарицательное существительное) or vice versa . E.g. Th. Dreiser wrote::

“He took little satisfaction in telling each Mary, shortly after she arrived, something…”.The attribute “each”, used with the name, turns it into a common noun denoting any woman. Here we deal with a case of antonomasia of the first type.

Another type of antonomasia we meet when a common noun serves as an individualizing name:

“There are three doctors in an illness like yours. I don’t mean only myself, my partner and the radiologist who does your X-rays, the three I’m referring to are Dr. Rest, Dr. Diet and Dr. Fresh Air”.

Another type of antonomasia is presented by the so-called “speaking names” – names whose origin from common nouns is still clearly perceived.

Such names from Sheridan’s School for scandal as Lady Teazle or Mr. Surface immediately raise associations with certain human qualities due to the denotational meaning of the words “to tease” and “surface”.

This double role of the speaking names is sometimes preserved in translation, E.g. the names from another of Sheridan’s plays, The rivals: Miss Languish (languish – томность) – Мисс Томнэй, Mr. Backbite (to backbite – злословить, клеветать)– М-р Клеветаун, Mr.Credulous (credulous – доверчивый, легковерный)– М-р Доверч.

Some examples in Russian literature: Коробочка, Собакевич, Вральман.

The use of antonomasia is now not confined to the belle-lettres style. It is often found in publicist style, e.g.

“I say this to our American friends. Mr. Facing-Both-Ways does not get very far in this world (The Times).

Antonomasia is created mainly by nouns, more seldom by attributive combinations (“Miss Blue-Eyes”), or phrases (“Mr. What’s his name”).

Stylistic function: to point out the leading, most characteristic features of a person or an event.