METAPHOR & METONYMY

SEMANTICS
JANJA ČULIG SUKNAIĆ, PHD, POSTDOC.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
2022/2023
METAPHORICAL MEANING

• basic/primary/literal meaning vs. idiomatic or metaphorical meaning

• metaphorical meaning is found in
• individual lexemes
ex. John is a pig.
• collocations/cliches/idioms/phrasal lexemes
ex. to go out (literal vs. metaphorical)
METAPHORICAL MEANING

• phrasal lexemes:
• their forms are phrases in the traditional sense of the term
• their meanings tend to be metaphorical or idiomatic
• their meaning is often unpredictable from the syntactic and
semantic properties of their constituents (idioms!)
ex. The cigarette went out.
IDIOMS
IDIOMS (traditional definition):
expressions which consist of two or more words whose overall
meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent
words

• no relation between basic and metaphorical meaning!

IDIOMS

to pull someone’s leg

to have a bee in one’s bonnet
to kick the bucket
to cook someone’s goose
to go around the bend
to spill the beans
to be in the know
IDIOMS

• traditional view of idioms: assumed to be a matter of

language alone; taken to be items of the lexicon (i.e. the
mental dictionary) that are independent of any
conceptual system
• are idioms arbitrary pairings of forms (each with a
meaning) and a special overall meaning?
IDIOMS

• cognitive semantics: idioms are products of our conceptual

system; they arise from our more general knowledge of the world
ex. spill the beans
• idioms are motivated
• The motivation of idioms is based on the cognitive mechanisms
of metaphor and metonymy.
METAPHOR
traditional semantics
• primarily diachronical interest in metaphorical meaning (etymology)
• sees metaphor as condensed comparison
ex. Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“metaphor is a figure of speech that implies comparison between
two unlike entities, as distinguished from simile, an explicit
comparison signalled by the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.”
METAPHOR

• comprised of two elements

TENOR  A = B  VEHICLE

• notion of similarity (objective, emotive, anthropomorphic factors)

METAPHOR

• Objective similarity
the crest of a mountain
• the physical appearance of A is objectively similar to B

• Emotive factors in similarity

bitter disappointment
• effect is similar to that of bitter taste
METAPHOR

• Anthropomorphic factors
• transfer from the human body and its parts to inanimate objects
the hands of a clock
the brow of a hill
the foot of a mountain
the rib of a vault
METAPHOR
• one of the global tendencies of metaphor is to translate
abstract experiences into concrete terms

to throw light upon something

to be in the limelight
to put something in favorable light
METAPHOR
• traditional semantics considers such expressions to be
DEAD METAPHORS
• petrified within the linguistic system and unproductive
• they lost their figurative value “through overuse”
• such expressions are not understood as metaphors by their
users
METAPHOR: COGNITIVE SEMANTICS

• completely different view of metaphors (ex. no dead metaphors)

• basic claim: man’s conceptual structure is metaphorical in nature
• the basis of metaphor is to understand and experience one thing
in terms of another
• metaphors are systematically organized; how?
WHAT IS THE COMMON TOPIC?

He's without direction in life.

I'm where I want to be in life.
I'm at a crossroads in my life.
She'll go places in life.
He's never let anyone get in his way.
She's gone through a lot in life.
 METAPHOR: COGNITIVE SEMANTICS

• understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual

domain
• conceptual domain – any coherent organization of experience (ex.
knowledge of journeys)
• basic conceptual metaphor:
CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (A) = CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (B)

LIFE IS A JOURNEY
 METAPHOR: COGNITIVE SEMANTICS

• conceptual metaphor vs. metaphorical linguistic expressions

LIFE IS A JOURNEY vs. I'm at a crossroads in my life.

• source domain vs. target domain

BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
LOVE IS WAR
He is known for his many conquests.
She fought for him but his mistress won.
He fled from her advances.
She pursued him relentlessly.
He won her hand in marriage.
She is beseiged by suitors.
He made an ally of her mother.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

PEOPLE ARE PLANTS

She is in full flower of youth.

She is a late bloomer.
She is a budding beauty.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

IDEAS ARE PLANTS

It will take years for that idea to come to full flower.
The seeds of his great ideas were planted in his youth.
She has a fertile imagination.
He has a barren mind.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

LOVE IS A JOURNEY

We are at a crossroad.
This relationship is a dead-end street.
It’s been a long bumpy road.
Our marriage is on the rocks.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

LOVE IS MADNESS

He’s gone mad over her.

I’m insane about her.
He drives me out of my mind.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

LOVE IS MAGIC

He was bewitched.
She is bewitching.
She cast a spell on me.
I’m spellbound.
I’m charmed by him/her.
BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS: EXERCISE 1
• Which conceptual metaphor governs the following
metaphorical expressions?
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every week point in my argument.
His criticisms were right on target.
I demolished his argument.
I've never won an argument with him.
You disagree? Okay, shoot!
If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out.
He shot down all of my arguments.
 BASIC CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS: EXERCISE
2

• Which linguistic expressions can you think of as examples of

the basic conceptual metaphor TIME IS MONEY?
COMMON TARGET DOMAINS

• Emotion (anger, fear, love, happiness, sadness, shame, pride)

She was deeply moved.
He was bursting with joy.

We had to cheer him up. HAPPY IS UP

She brightened up at the news. HAPPY IS LIGHT

I'm feeling down. SADNESS IS DOWN

He brought me down with his remarks.
COMMON TARGET DOMAINS:
EMOTION
He's in a dark mood. SAD IS DARK

He was overflowing with joy.

HAPPINESS IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER

I am filled with sorrow.

SADNESS IS A FLUID IN A CONTAINER
COMMON TARGET DOMAINS: MORALITY

• good and bad, honesty, courage, sincerity, honor, etc.

I'll pay you back for this.
She resisted the temptation.
He's a straight shooter.
He's a shady character.
That was a lowly thing to do.
 COMMON TARGET DOMAINS: TIME

• notoriously difficult to understand; the major metaphor is

• TIME IS AN OBJECT THAT MOVES
The time will come when...
Christmas is coming up soon.
Time flies.
in the following week...
Time goes by fast.
COMMON TARGET DOMAINS:
SOCIETY/NATION
• extremely complex concepts, often understood involving
concepts of person and family
What do we owe society?
neighboring countries
a friendly nation
the founding fathers of the country
COMMON TARGET DOMAINS: ECONOMY

• source domains include building, plants, journey (movement,

direction)

Germany built a strong economy.

the growth of the economy
They pruned the budget.
China's economy is galloping ahead.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
THE HUMAN BODY
• a large proportion of metaphorical meaning derives from our
experience of our own body - "embodiment" of meaning,
universal metaphor

the heart of the problem

to shoulder responsibility
the head of the department
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS: PLANTS

• parts + growth

a budding beauty
He cultivated his friendship with her.
the fruit of her labor
Exports flourished last year.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
HEALTH AND ILLNESS

a healthy society
a sick mind
She hurt my feelings.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
GAMES AND SPORT
• games have rules: He plays by the rules

to toy with the idea

He tried to checkmate her.
He's a heavyweight politician.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION
• static parts and the act of building

a towering genius
He's in ruins financially.
She constructed a coherent argument.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
COOKING AND FOOD

What's your recipe for success?

That's a watered-down idea.
He cooked up a story that nobody believed.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
LIGHT AND DARKNESS

a dark mood
She brightened up.
a cloud of suspicion
There was a cloud over their friendship.
I do not have the foggiest idea.
She was in a haze of confusion.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
MOVEMENT AND DIRECTION

He went crazy.
She solved the problem step by step.
Inflation is soaring.
Our economy is galloping ahead.
COMMON SOURCE DOMAINS:
HEAT AND COLD

in the heat of passion

a cold reception
an icy stare
a warm welcome
 METONYMY
I'm reading Shakespeare. Shakespeare was a literary genius.

We traveled to Pearl Harbor last year.

America doesn't want another Pearl
Harbor.
Washington is the capital of the United
States.
Washington is negotiating with Moscow.
Nixon is a former American president.
Nixon bombed Hanoi.
This glove is too tight for me.
We need a better glove at third base.
METONYMY
• in metonymy we use one entity (Shakespeare, Pearl Harbor,
Washington, glove) to indicate/refer to/provide mental access
to another entity (one of Shakespeare’s works, defeat in war,
the American government, baseball player)
• we direct our attention to an entity through another entity
related to it
METONYMY
• notion of relatedness: metonymy arises between concepts already
related to each other
• examples
redbreast
redcoat
volt, ampere, ohm
champagne
hoover
kalodont, penkala
METONYMY
• focusing on a prominent feature (ex. redbreast)
• metonymy has a referential function
• it allows us to use one entity to stand for another
 Metaphor Metonymy
• relation between 2
relation between 2
concepts
concepts
• similarity relatedness (contiguity)
• 2 conceptual domains 1 conceptual domain

source target
source target
METONYMY
• conventionalized metonymies vs. one-time
metonymies
kalodont, hoover etc. → highly conventional
• but
The ham sandwich is waiting for his check.
The Times hasn’t arrived at the press conference yet.
METONYMY
• similar to metaphor, metonymic relationships are also systematically
organized

THE PRODUCER FOR THE PRODUCT

I'm reading Shakespeare.
She loves Picasso.
He drives a Ford.
METONYMY

THE PLACE FOR THE EVENT

America doesn't want another Pearl Harbor.

Let's not let El Salvador become another Vietnam.
Watergate changed our politics.
METONYMY
THE PLACE FOR THE INSTITUTION

Washington is negotiating with Moscow.

The White House isn't saying anything.
Wall Street is in a panic.
Hollywood is putting out terrible movies.
METONYMY

THE CONTROLLER FOR THE CONTROLLED

Nixon bombed Hanoi.

Ozawa gave a terrible concert last night.
METONYMY

AN OBJECT USED FOR THE USER

We need a better glove at third base.

The sax has the flu today.