Metonymy-Guided Discourse Inferencing. A Qualitative Study

Antonio Barcelona Sánchez

Abstract


Cognitive-linguistic research on metonymy has argued cogently that metonymy is a crucial factor guaranteeing discourse coherence. Barcelona (forthcoming) includes a detailed study of the metonymies guiding the pragmatic inferences claimed to be invited by the reading of a brief text. The analysis of the fragment, though internally consistent, is based on my own close reading of the text. In the paper I report on a qualitative study investigating whether native speakers of English derive the same inferences and whether they are guided by metonymy in this derivation. The results seem to confirm my claims in the earlier study.


Keywords


metonymy; pragmatic inferencing; qualitative research; reading comprehension

Full Text:

PDF

References


Barcelona, A. (2002a). Clarifying and applying the notions of metaphor and metonymy within cognitive linguistics: an update. In R. Dirven, & R. Pörings (Eds.), Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast (pp. 207–277). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110219197.2.207

Barcelona, A. (2002b). On the ubiquity and multiple-level operation of metonymy. In B. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, & K. Turewicz (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics Today (pp. 207–224). Peter Lang Verlag.

Barcelona, A. (2003a). Metonymy in cognitive linguistics. An analysis and a few modest proposals. In H. Cuyckens, K.-U. Panther, & T. Berg (Eds), Motivation in Language: Studies in Honor of Günter Radden (pp. 223–255). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.243.15bar

Barcelona, A. (2003b). The case for a metonymic basis of pragmatic inferencing: Evidence from jokes and funny anecdotes. In K.-U. Panther, & L. L. Thornburg (Eds.), Metonymy and pragmatic inferencing (pp. 81–102). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.113.07bar

Barcelona, A. (2005). The multilevel operation of metonymy in grammar and discourse with particular attention to metonymic chains. In F. J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, & S. Peña Cervel (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics: Internal Dynamics and Interdisciplinary Interaction (pp. 313–352). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110197716.4.313

Barcelona, A. (2007a). The multilevel role of metonymy in grammar and discourse: A Case Study. In K. Kosecki (Ed.), Perspectives on Metonymy. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Perspectives on Metonymy’, held in Łódź, Poland, May 6–7, 2005 (pp. 103–131). Peter Lang Verlag.

Barcelona, A. (2007b). The role of metonymy in meaning at discourse level: A case study. In G. Radden, K.-M. Köpcke, T. Berg, & P. Siemund (Eds.), Aspects of meaning construction (pp. 51–75). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.136.06bar

Barcelona, A. (2009). Motivation of Construction Meaning and Form: The roles of metonymy and inference. In K.-U. Panther, L. L. Thornburg, & A. Barcelona (Eds.), Metonymy and Metaphor in Grammar (Human Cognitive Processing 25) (pp. 363–401). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.25.22bar

Barcelona, A. (2011). Reviewing the properties and prototype structure of metonymy. In R. Benczes, A. Barcelona, & F.-J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez (Eds.), Defining metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics. Towards a consensus view. (Human Cognitive Processing 28) (pp. 7–57). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.28.02bar

Barcelona, A. (2015). Metonymy. In E. Dąbrowska, & D. Divjak (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 143–167). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110292022-008

Barcelona, A. (2018). Metaphor and metonymy in language and art: The dogma of the Holy Trinity and its artistic representation. In P. Chilton, & M. Kopytowska (Eds.), Religion, Language and the Human Mind (pp. 353–385). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190636647.003.0014

Barcelona, A. (2019). The tripartite typology and the Córdoba Metonymy Database. In M. Bolognesi, M. Brdar, & K. Despot (Eds.), Metaphor and Metonymy in the Digital Age. Theory and methods for building repositories of figurative language (pp. 49–73). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075milcc.8.03bar

Barcelona, A. (forthcoming). Metonymy in Grammar and Discourse Comprehension. Five Case Studies. De Gruyter.

Barnden, J. A. (2010). Metaphor and Metonymy: Making Their Connections More Slippery. Cognitive Linguistics, 21(1), 1–34.

Barnden, J. A. (2018). Some contrast effects in metonymy. In O. Blanco Carrión, A. Barcelona, & R. Pannain (Eds.), Conceptual metonymy: Methodological, theoretical, and descriptive issues (pp. 97–119). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.60.04bar

Benczes, R., Barcelona, A. & Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F.-J. (Eds.), Defining metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics. Towards a consensus view. (Human Cognitive Processing 28). John Benjamins.

Blanco Carrión, O., Barcelona, A., & Pannain, R. (Eds.). (2018). Conceptual metonymy: Methodological, theoretical, and descriptive issues. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/

hcp.60

Brdar-Szabó, R. (2009). Metonymy in indirect directives: Stand-alone conditionals in English, German, Hungarian, and Croatian. In K. Panther, L. L. Thornburg & A. Barcelona (Eds.), Metonymy and Metaphor in Grammar (Human Cognitive Processing 25) (pp. 323–336). John Benjamins.

Dżereń-Głowacka, S. (2007). Beating up intelligence: Metonymy in Terry Pratchet’s novels. In K. Kosecki (Ed.), Perspectives on Metonymy. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Perspectives on Metonymy’, held in Łódź, Poland, May 6–7, 2005 (pp. 335–348). Peter Lang Verlag.

Emmott, C. (1999). Embodied in a Constructed World: Narrative processing, knowledge representation, and indirect anaphora. In K. van Hoek, A. A. Kibrik, & L. Noordman (Eds.), Discourse Studies in Cognitive linguistics (pp. 5–27). John Benjamins.

Fauconnier, G. (1997). Mappings in Thought and Language. Cambridge University Press.

Fillmore, Ch. (1985). Frames and the Semantics of Understanding. Quaderni di Semantica 6(2), 222–254.

Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (1994). The Poetics of Mind.. Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding.Cambridge University Press.

Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (2007). Experiential tests of figurative meaning construction. In G. Radden, K.-M. Köpcke, T. Berg, & P. Siemund (Eds), Aspects of Meaning Construction (pp. 19–32). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.136.04gib

González Márquez, M., Mittelberg, I., Coulson, S., & Spivey, M. J. (Eds.). (2006). Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. John Benjamins.

Kosecki, K. (Ed.) (2007). Perspectives on Metonymy. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Perspectives on Metonymy’, held in Łódź, Poland, May 6–7, 2005. Peter Lang Verlag.

Kövecses, Z., & Radden, G. (1998). Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics, 9(1), 37–77.

Kwiatkowska, A. (2007). Pre-linguistic and non-linguistic metonymy. In K. Kosecki (Ed.), Perspectives on Metonymy. Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Perspectives on Metonymy’, held in Łódź, Poland, May 6–7, 2005 (pp.297–307). Peter Lang Verlag.

Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. What Categories Reveal About the Mind. University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G., & Turner, M. (1989). More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. University of Chicago Press.

Langacker, R. W. (1999). Grammar and conceptualization. De Gruyter.

Langacker, R. W. (2009). Metonymic grammar. In In K.-U. Panther, L. L. Thornburg, & A. Barcelona (Eds.), Metonymy and Metaphor in Grammar (Human Cognitive Processing 25) (pp. 45–71). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.25.04lan

Littlemore, J. (2015). Metonymy: Hidden shortcuts in language, thought and communication. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107338814

Mittelberg, I. (2019). Visuo-kinetic signs are inherently metonymic: How embodied metonymy motivates form and function in gesture. Frontiers in Psychology 10, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00254

Panther, K.-U. (2022). Introduction to Cognitive Pragmatics. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/clip.4

Panther, K.-U., & Thornburg, L. L. (1998). A cognitive approach to inferencing in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 30, 755–769. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00028-9

Panther, K.-U., & Thornburg, L. L. (2003a). Introduction: On the nature of conceptual metonymy. In K.-U. Panther, & L. L. Thornburg (Eds.), Metonymy and pragmatic inferencing (pp. 1–20). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.113.03pan

Panther, K.-U., & Thornburg, L. L. (Eds.) (2003b). Metonymy and pragmatic inferencing. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.113

Panther, K.-U., & Thornburg, L. L. (2018). What kind of reasoning mode is metonymy? In O. Blanco Carrión, A. Barcelona, & R. Pannain (Eds.), Conceptual metonymy: Methodological, theoretical, and descriptive issues (pp. 121–160). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.60.05pan

Punch, K. (1998). Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Sage.

Radden, G., & Dirven, R. (2007). Cognitive English Grammar. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/clip.2

Rodríguez Redondo, A. L. (2018). Metonymy and the dynamics of conceptual operations in Spanish Sign Language. In O. Blanco Carrión, A. Barcelona, & R. Pannain (Eds.), Conceptual metonymy: Methodological, theoretical, and descriptive issues (pp. 287–309). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.60.11rod

Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F. J., & Lorena Pérez Hernández (2001). Metonymy and the grammar: motivation, constraints and interaction. Language and Communication 21(4), 321–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5309(01)00008-8

Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J., & Díez Velasco, O. I. (2004). Metonymic motivation in anaphoric reference. In G. Radden, & K.-U. Panther (Eds.), Studies in Linguistic Motivation (pp. 293–320). De Gruyter.

Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, F. J., & Galera, A. (2014). Cognitive Modeling: A Linguistic Perspective. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.45

Thornburg, L. L., & Panther, K.-U. (1997). Speech act metonymies. In W.-A. Liebert, G. Redeker, & L. Waugh (Eds.), Discourse and Perspective in Cognitive Linguistics. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 151)2 (pp. 205–219). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.151.14tho

Toth, M. (2018). Linguistic Metonymy: Implicitness and Co-Activation of Mental Content. Peter Lang Verlag. https://doi.org/10.3726/b14806




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2023.47.2.11-29
Date of publication: 2023-07-19 13:53:49
Date of submission: 2022-11-15 14:51:06


Statistics


Total abstract view - 566
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 285

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023 Antonio Barcelona Sánchez

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.