metonymy and metaphor.pptVIP

Processing Metonymy and Metaphor Dan Fass, as summarized/(mis-)interpreted by Peter Clark Metonymy and Metaphor Really part of the bigger problem of “non-literal language” What exactly is “non-literal”? Departs from truth conditions Violates “standard” use of language Metaphor “My car drinks gasoline.” “The computer died” “The virus attacks the cell” “The polymerase slides along the DNA” (?) 4 Views of how to Process Metaphor Comparison view: Compare match features between base and target 4 Views of how to Process Metaphor Selection Restrictions Violations view: Metaphor = violation of semantic restrictions But: “All men are animals” (no violations, interpretation is context dependent) Conventional Metaphor view: There are conventional metaphors, which can be catalogued Time as a substance Argument as war More/happy is up Metonymy “The ham sandwich is waiting for his check.” NB more ambiguity here than meets the eye “The kettle is boiling.” “I’m just going to change the washing machine.” “It’s your turn to clean out the rabbit.” (NY times example) Types of Metonymy Popular to catalog different metonymy types E.g., Lakoff and Johnson’s list of eight: PART for WHOLE (“Get your butt over here”) FACE for PERSON (“We need some new faces around here”) PRODUCER for PRODUCT (“I’ll have a Lowenbrau”) CONTROLLER for CONTROLLED (“A Mercedes rear-ended me”) INSTITUTION for PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE (“Exon has raised its prices again”) PLACE for INSTITUTION (“The White House isn’t saying anything”) PLACE for EVENT (“Remember the Alamo”) Not all metonymys fit these rules (“novel metonymys”) Metonymy and Language Processing Metonymic relationships can link sentences “I found an old car on the road. The steering wheel was broken” Metonymy and anaphora closely related Both allow one entity to refer to another “The ham sandwich is waiting for his check” “He is waiting for his check” Metaphor vs. Metonymy Metaphor is type of Metonymy? Metonymy is type of metaphor? Completely