An Analysis On The Pragmatic Inference And Pragmatic Functions Of Cognitive Metonymy

Traditionally, metonymy was regarded only as a rhetorical device and it was mainly used to refer to something or to achieve certain rhetorical effects. With the development of cognitive linguistics, it is generally believed that metonymy is a cognitive process much more than a linguistic device; rather it is viewed as an important cognitive means, reasoning and inferential process, an essential means that human beings recognize the world of reality. A large number of metonymies in language reflect a common mode of thinking. Metonymic thought plays a crucial role in understanding utterances. Currently, metonymy has mainly been studied from the cognitive angle both at home and abroad. The pragmatic aspects have received relatively little attention. This thesis explores cognitive metonymy from pragmatic perspective and tries to bridge the gap between pragmatic and cognitive respects, and mainly probe into three research question: 1) what is the mechanism of metonymy? 2) what are the roles that cognitive metonymy play in pragmatic inference? 3) what are the pragmatic functions of metonymy in utterance interpretation?This study make use of the theory of Langacker?s reference point and idealized cognitive models (ICMs) proposed by Lakoff (1987) which are very helpful for us to understand metonymy-producing relationships and the cognitive mechanisms of metonymy. A thorough revelation of the operation mechanisms contributes to this study. This thesis explores the role of metonymic inference in conversation, especially in the speech acts according to theory of speech act metonymy proposed by Panther & Thornburg. As they claim that metonymies are"natural inference schemata"in indirect speech act and each component in the scenario can metonymically stand for other components, or for the whole scenario through which can better explain the indirect speech act. The author?s analyses of pragmatic inference are based on the cognitive theory of metonymy with the belief that the shortcomings of the traditional approach can be overcome by means of human metonymic thinking mode.Taking Relevance Theory as its framework, the present study tries to explore and discuss the pragmatic functions of metonymy. According to the principle of relevance,"every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance."A linguistic expression is optimally relevant if it produces maximal contextual effect with a minimum of processing effort. Metonymy is an efficient tool to provide maximal contextual effects with minimal processing efforts. Based on RT theory, the thesis further proposes three pragmatic function of metonymy: producing rhetorical effects, communicating social and cultural information and enhancing communicative efficiency.The thesis proposes that the understanding of metonymy relies heavily on our metonymic ways of thinking and reasoning. Moreover, it provides better explanations for the reason why people draw conversational implicatures quickly in dialogues. In this sense, the study concludes that metonymy is not only an economical way of expressing, but also a very powerful and efficient tool for resolving difficult problems in communication. It intends to provide a new perspective for those who are engaged in the foreign language learning and teaching.