The Cognitive Study Of Modern Chinese Metonymy

This dissertation attempts to summarize the metonymy in modern Chinese language that scholars talks about and to analysis it from a new angle.As many scholars have mentioned, metonymy is very important in language and in our daily life, even more important and more basic than metaphor, but the study on it is far from satisfying whether in width or in depth. The importance of metonymy and the weakness of studying on it makes its domain keeps expanding and now almost every phenomena related to contiguity can be explained by metonymy. The result weakens the power of metonymy. The dissertation tries to change the status.There are 6 chapters in this dissertation.Chapter 1 IntroductionThis chapter provides an overview of the study of metonymy, especially of grammar which is the main resource of problems. And then, discusses the problem in the studying and analysis the two reasons of the problem: first, take 'contiguity' as the only condition of metonymy and second, the lack of thinking about 'everyday way of thinking'.Chapter 2 Theory of the study on metonymyThis chapter identifies the theory for the study of metonymy, and discusses the problems of metonymy that have to be solved. These discusses are the framework of the study on metonymy.According to the review of two concepts --'contiguity' and 'prominence' --and the division of 'everyday way of thinking' into 'conventional thinking and creative thinking', we divide the so-called metonymies into three parts: strategic metonymy, cognitive metonymy and non-m4tonymy, among which cognitive metonymy is our emphasisChapter 3 The analysis of so-called metonymiesIn this part, we make a particular analysis of the so-called metonymies overviewed in chapter 1, the conclusion is that most of these metonymies are linguistic reflection of conventional thinking, which relates to economic principle, activation of knowledge, semi-activation of knowledge and dormancy of knowledge.Chapter 4 Cognitive metonymy (1)This chapter concerns the freedom form and condensation form of metonymy and discusses their cognitive structure and linguistic form.First, to distinguish cognitive metonymy from strategic metonymy through the concept 'intention', which can be understood by the environment, the frequency it appears and the understanding method.Second, to argue the transition of metonymy's freedom form to condensation form.Chapter 5 Cognitive metonymy (2): metonymy in syntaxBased on the concept of 'controllablity' and the 'immediacy of control', this chapter analyses the possibility of metonymy in instrumental subject and onomatopoeia.Through the division of instrument into brain instrument, body instrument and common instrument, and the division of onomatopoeia into six different kinds, we discuss the continuum of metonymy within themselves.Chapter 6 ConclusionsThe: last chapter summarizes main point of view of this dissertation, points out further problems and inadequacy.