A Cognitive Approach To Metonymy In The Play Of Death Of A Salesman

Based on the theory of cognitive metonymy, this thesis is intended to analyze metonymy used in the play of Death of a Salesman so as to find out how metonymy shows up and operates in the play and to see the significance of metonymy for dramatic writing and stage performance. Furthermore, this study is an attempt to explore how metonymy affects human language and actions.Traditionally, metonymy was regarded only as a rhetorical device and a matter of language, and it was mainly used to refer to something or to achieve certain rhetorical effects. With the development of cognitive linguistics, the conventional view of metonymy has been radically challenged. Now in light of cognitive linguistics, metonymy is understood as a cognitive process, in which one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another, the target, within the same idealized cognitive model (ICM). It is grounded in people's daily experience and is conceptual in nature. Conceptual contiguity and cognitive salience constitute its cognitive bases, and the use of metonymy is motivated. Cognitive linguists approach the working mechanism of metonymy from different perspectives and put forward such models as ICM, cognitive reference point, mapping, and highlighting. Metonymy is no longer confined to its referential function; instead, it plays a significant role in cognition, thinking, meaning extension, daily communication, the building up of linguistic texts and so on.Nowadays, more and more attention has been paid to the application and significance of metonymy, and several case studies have been conducted from different aspects. The author intends to explore how metonymy works in both people's language and their actions through a tentative analysis of metonymy employed in Death of a Salesman at the following two levels. One is the micro-linguistic level, that is, metonymy used in the dramatic text. The other is the macro-structural level, that is, metonymy used in the stage performance of this play. From the analysis, it can be seen that both wording of the dramatic text and organization of the stage performance are partly shaped by metonymic thinking. By analyzing event staging and character representation on the stage performance of this play, it is noted that the performance is metonymically directed and metonymy is indeed a cost-effective strategy. There are many gaps in presenting an event and only the initial and the final scenes are staged to represent a whole event, which is the embodiment of the conceptual metonymy SUBEVENTS FOR WHOLE EVENT. Typical clothes, properties, or actions are used for showing the profession and identity of characters, which is the application of the conceptual metonymy SALIENT PROPERTY FOR CATEGORY.This thesis arrives at the conclusion that both the writer and director employ metonymic thinking in constructing and directing this play, which shows that metonymy affects not only people's language but also their actions. Stage performance entails a process of selection and is based on conceptual metonymy. It is often the case that only those salient parts are selected for staging and are used to access or activate the whole. During the process of reading the dramatic text and watching the stage performance, both the reader and audience need to make use of the metonymic way of thinking in order to fully understand this play. As a cost-effective strategy, conceptual metonymy is expected to gain wide application in such forms of art as film, advertising, drawing, etc., which deserves a more systematic research in the future. This study furthers people's understanding about metonymy and opens a new field for its research.