A Cognitive Study Of Metonymy: Chinese As A Metonymic Language

This dissertation is about metonymy study. Metonymy has been investigated a lot from rhetorical perspective. Until recently it has been included in the cognitive study and has won its deserved status as metaphor as the fundamental way of thinking.In chapter one, we review the previous studies and understandings about metonymy. Then different definitions of metonymy, no matter in English and in Chinese, are collected to reveal its history. The focus part is the cognitive view of metonymy, especially by Langacker(1987), Lakoff(1987), Croft and Cruse(2004).In Chapter two, metonymy is interpreted in the framework of language philosophy. We begin with the language feature"vagueness"to explain the pervasive existence of metonymy. Then we elucidate the ubiquity of metonymy in each layer of language, from lexical to grammar to pragmatics. Next we apply semiotic theory, especially Saussure's semiotic terms"signifier"and"signified"to discuss the reason and result of metonymy. The last part is to prove metonymy is motivated and reflects language holograph put forward by Qian Guanlian(2003). At the same time, we indicate Chinese people are good at holograph thinking. This provides an explanation for Huang's finding"Chinese as a metonymic language".In Chapter three, we focus on the proof of Huang's statement"Chinese as a metonymic language"following his research methodology but with different data source. This conclusion is drawn from the way lexical categories are structured through the dictionaries study. Two findings contribute to the conclusion: one is that Chinese nouns as a whole are more polysemic than Chinese verbs and English nouns and verbs have opposite case; the other is that nouns apply more metonymies to extend their meanings while verbs are more likely to employ metaphors to structure their meanings. These findings of Huang are testified by our study with Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (the 6th edition), the American Heritage Dictionary and Guoyu Huoyong Cidian (Mandarin Chinese Dictionaries).In chapter four, we explore the fuzzy property of Chinese word classes and find that Chinese word class ambiguity is due to metonymic operation. According to our study, the word classes of Chinese characters in Old Chinese and Chinese compound words in Contemporary Chinese are highly fuzzy, especially for nouns and verbs. The high level of ambiguity combining with its metonymic motivation provides an evidence of"Chinese as a metonymic language".In chapter five, the relation between metonymy and syntax is discussed. Metonymy's impacts on linguistics structures are mostly studied in English. We review some discussions in English then investigate Chinese constructions which reveal metonymic operation. We find the metonymic function in Chinese constructions is even more fundamental and extended than in English. That is to say, we testify"Chinese as a metonymic language"from syntactic perspective.Finally we have a conclusion on the whole dissertation in chapter six.All in all, metonymy is a basic way of thinking of human beings. It belongs to our fundamental cognitive ability to the extent that"Metonymies we live by"should stand.