Metonymy and Word-Formation : Their Interactions and Complementation.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (259 pages)
Intro -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter One -- 1.1 Communicative needs and lexicalization strategies -- 1.2 Word-formation -- Chapter Two -- 2.1 Metonymy as a figure of thought rather than merely a figure of speech -- 2.2 Towards a working definition of metonymy -- 2.3 Metonymy and grammar -- Chapter Three -- Chapter Four -- 4.1 Metonymy in non-concatenative word-formation, or rather preceding and/or following it -- 4.2 Metonymy and abbreviations (alphabetisms and acronyms) -- 4.3 Back-formation and metonymy -- 4.4 Clipping and metonymy -- 4.5 Lexical blending, conceptual blending and metonymy -- 4.6 Reduplication and metonymy -- 4.7 Conversion and metonymy -- Chapter Five -- 5.1 Metonymy and compounds -- 5.2 Metonymy and suffixation -- Chapter Six -- 6.1 Metonymy and word-formation complementing or blocking each other -- 6.2 Word-formation blocking metonymy -- 6.3 Metonymy blocking word-formation? -- Chapter Seven -- References -- Index.
This book deals with the interplay between word-formation and metonymy. It shows that, like metaphor, metonymy interacts in important ways with morphological structure, but also warns us against a virtually unconstrained conception of metonymy. The central claim here is that word-formation and metonymy are distinct linguistic components that complement and mutually constrain each other. Using linguistic data from a variety of languages, the book provides ample empirical support for its thesis. It is much more than a systematic study of two neglected linguistic phenomena, for a long time thought to be unimportant by linguists. Through exposing and explaining the intricate interaction between metonymy and word formation from a cognitive linguistic perspective, the reader is presented with a sense of the amazing complexity of the development of linguistic systems. This book will be essential reading for scholars and advanced students interested in the role of figuration in grammar.