A Study On Interpretation And Functions Of Metonymy From Cognitive Pragmatic Perspective

The researches on cognitive linguistics are growing rapidly, especially after metonymy escaping from conventional rhetoric study. The study of metonymy attracts more attention of many scholars and gradually becomes a hot topic among linguistics. Researchers, from different disciplines, study the conceptual nature of metonymy, its classification, the mechanism of understanding and cognitive pragmatic functions, etc. Traditional rhetoric study considers metonymy as a rhetoric method which has certain kind of literature effects, but it is difficult to have a reasonable explanation for the naturalness of metonymy generation and interpretation; cognitive linguistics studies the cognitive mechanism of metonymy from a new perspective of conceptual level, but they relatively ignores the function of specific context and its possible potential effects in the process of metonymy cognition; and from the perspective of pragmatics, especially relevance theory, it is hard to examine the cognitive mechanism behind metonymy. Therefore, the single subject study of metonymy still has some limitations. So, from the perspective of cognitive pragmatics, this thesis will interpret metonymy understanding and its functions in The Vampire Diaries within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics and relevance theory.This paper, according to cognitive linguistic studies especially the classification of metonymy by Radden and Kovecses, mainly tries to study the interpretation and functions of specific metonymies in the American TV series The Vampire Diaries from cognitive pragmatics, particularly the complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory on the matter of processing metonymy. This thesis takes the case study on the currently popular American TV series The Vampire Diaries, which concentrates on the complicated plot, youth, magic, fear of vampire drama series. On the basis of cognitive linguistics’ studies on metonymy definition, classification, constraining factors for its recognition and its comprehension, many metonymic expressions are identified and picked out from the first season of the TV series as the direct data for the analysis. In addition, because both the two sides of communication(the author and the reader of The Vampire Diaries) have different cultural background, the process of metonymy understanding will be restricted more or less. And on this basis, three questions are to be solved in the present thesis:firstly, where is the possibility of the complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory for the study of metonymy. Secondly, how are metonymic expressions in The Vampire Diaries interpreted from cognitive pragmatics? Thirdly, what are the functions of metonymy in utterance understanding in this TV series?The present thesis has got three main findings: to start with, the understanding of metonymy is actually a process of seeking for the expectation of optimal relevance between the TV series’ author and the reader through the main influencing factors of relevance(contextual effect, processing effort, and optimal relevance), and in the process of metonymy understanding, firstly metonymy is regarded as a kind of psychological cognitive mechanism, then interprets and realizes its function from relevance theory. Secondly, there is the possibility of complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory, which can provide strong explanatory power for metonymy use and understanding. Lastly, the comprehension of metonymy in this TV series from the perspective of cognitive pragmatics involves producing rich functions and effects. Therefore, from the complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory in dealing with metonymy, the combination of the two approaches for the understanding of metonymy provides a new way of exploring metonymy.The thesis is made up of six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, including the background of the study, significance, objectives, data collection and methodology, and organization of the thesis. The second chapter is the literature review, which reviews on different metonymy studies from different perspectives. The third chapter is the theoretical framework, which introduces the constraining factors on recognition of metonymy, interpretation of metonymy from cognitive pragmatics and the complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory. The fourth and fifth chapters are the main parts of the thesis, the author first interprets the concrete metonymies in The Vampire Diaries from cognitive pragmatics, and then tries to interpret metonymies in this TV series based on the possibility of complementarities between cognitive linguistics and relevance theory. At last, the functions of metonymy use in The Vampire Diaries are explained from cognitive pragmatics. The sixth chapter gives the main findings, limitations and suggestions for further study.