Metaphor and Metonymy

張 艷

（大連財(cái)經(jīng)學(xué)院商務(wù)外語(yǔ)系，遼寧 大連 116021）

Metaphor,as a figure of speech,refers to the substitution of one thing for another,or the identification of two things from different ranges of thought.It is often loosely defined as “an implied comparison”, “a smile without like or as”.Metaphor is considered by many the most important and basic poetic figure and also the commonest and the most beautiful.We do make sentences like this:Boys and girls,tumbling in the streets and playing,were moving jewels.This is a vivid comparison.We are impressed by the beautiful scene,which the lively children are jumping and laughing like jewels spreading over.

Language of human being is governed by whole systems of metaphorical thinking organized into hierarchical structures.Metaphorical systems consist of groups of metaphorical expressions that all express some facet of a more general metaphor.For example,if we compare an argument to a building,the following sentences would be expressed as:

We’ve got the framework for a solid argument.

If you don’t support your argument with solid facts,the whole thing will collapse.

Two concepts are necessarily introduced.One is the target domain of the metaphor,which means the thing we are talking about.Another is the source domain,which carries the meaning of our schematic knowledge of buildings.Therefore argument acts as the target domain in the sentence.

Linguistic usage is governed by complex,images,gestalts,or configurations and that the cognitions underling the use of metaphorical language might be the same as those used in practical reasoning.Invariance Hypothesis claims that the portion of the source domain structure that is mapped preserves cognitive topology(though of course,not all the cognitive topology of the source domain need be mapped).However,the metaphorical mapping preserves not only the points of correspondence,but additionally the image-schematic structure or“topography” of the source domain.The cognitive,topology of the source domain constitutes a field of inference.Inferences based upon the source domain,are taken to apply to the target domain.Let’s look at some examples and analyze the functions.

1）Snow clothes the ground

The target domain in the sentence is that snow covers the ground.It’s on the surface of the earth.The source domain turns out to be snow is the clothes wearing by the ground.

2）Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finn’s idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyer’s endless summer of freedom and adventure.

Mark Twain is not the father of those boys in fact.Instead he is author of that book.It is he who created the well-know figures.So the source domain of father is taken to apply to the target domain of creator.

3）From the discouragement of his mining failures,Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist.

The source domain of digging his way refer to the target domain of working hard.Actually Mark Twain was not doing some specific work on his way.The adoption of the metaphor provided vivid scenery of his making efforts.

4）No one,least of all I,anticipated that my case would snowball into one of the most famous trials in U.S.history.

Snowball is used metaphorically as a verb.The case was not likely to be a snowball,but it grew or developed rapidly like a snowball,but it grew or developed rapidly like a snowball.It’s very clear that snowball as the source domain is taken to apply to the target domain of growing rapidly.

5）He thundered in his sonorous organ tones.

Could someone thunder like in a storm?Of course impossible.The sentence intended to express that he said loudly and angrily in a metaphorical and a bit hyperbolic way.Therefore thunder act as the source domain whereas crying loudly with anger is the target domain.

6）Then the court broke into a storm of applause that surpassed that for Bryan.

This is what we can commonly see.A storm of applause implicates the loud applause by many people.In a metaphor,one thing stands for another,or a thing is called by a name for something else.We can interpret this way:The new knowledge is likened to the old knowledge.The fitting of new knowledge to a framework of old knowledge is a basic process by which people learn complex subject matter such as“l(fā)earning to play a piano or learning a language”.For some people like to extend the names for the body parts of humans and animals to refer to the parts of automobiles and pick up trucks.That’s why we say motor vehicles are animate things.Furthermore,we draw correspondences between their cognitive models and the cognitive models of animate beings.One complex thing has been seen and described in terms of another.

Metonymy is another important figure of speech commonly used in language expression.It’s the substitution of the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated.The relationship of one thing is close to another within a single conceptual model or scene.While any kind of association can five rise to metonymy,frequently the part stands for the whole.However,metonymy is often based not on physical relationship,but on the content of scenes.i.e.

1）He is too fond of the bottle.

It means he is too fond of drinking.The container(wine bottle)is used as a name for the thing contained(wine).

2）Gray hairs should be respected.

Thesymbol(grayhair)asanamefor thepersons(old people)symbolized.

3）I have never read LiBai.

The poet(LiBai)as a name for the thing made (poems written by LiBai).

4）She heard the piano.

Piano stands in for the music it produces.

There awaits an exciting program of semantic research to determine just how other cultures organize schemas of physical,psychological,and social forces and incorporate them into patterns of vocabulary and syntax.Our interest in the imagery underlying figurative language has now taken us form the simple appreciation of some interesting expressions to the more profound realization that much of language is built up by metaphorical correspondences and metonymical analyses from a foundation of cognitive models.

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［2］Jack C.Richards,John Platt,Herdi platt.Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching&Applied Linguistics[M].外語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究出版社,2000.