A Study Of The Scholars From The Perspective Of Cognitive Metonymy

Traditionally,metonymy was seen as a figure of speech.The publication of Metaphors We Live By authored by Lakoff and Johnson in 1980 first put it into the study of cognitive linguistics.Since then,cognitive metonymy has gradually drawn more and more attention from linguists and become a hot research topic in the past four decades.The study about metonymy has no longer been confined to the theoretical level;instead,it has led to a broad view.In other words,cognitive metonymy has been introduced to other fields,such as literature,translation,etc.Given that little attention is paid to the analysis of Chinese classical literary works from the perspective of cognitive metonymy,this thesis chooses The Scholars,a well-known realistic novel in the Qing Dynasty,as the subject of study and attempts to deal with three questions:Does cognitive metonymy exist in the novel?How is cognitive metonymy constructed and interpreted effectively?What functions does cognitive metonymy serve in the novel?The qualitative method and case analysis method are chosen to solve the problems aforementioned.Based on the literary materials and linguistic data of The Scholars,the study aims at identifying metonymic phenomena first,conducting analysis with some typical cases and making generalization of metonymies in the novel at last.The study obtains the following findings.Firstly,cognitive metonymy does exist in The Scholars,which proves that cognitive metonymy is pervasive in daily life and indicates that this western cognitive linguistics can be applied to a different culture.Secondly,cognitive metonymy is a primary tool to construct and interpret the novel.Referential metonymies allow us to use one entity to stand for another entity and provide understanding.Also,metonymic naming is basically formed on the basis of metonymic concepts of PROFESSION FOR PERSON,APPEARANCE FOR PERSON,PLACE FOR PERSON and SALIENCE PROPERTY FOR PERSON.What's more,in the description of portrait and setting,the writer tends to select the important and salient information,by which readers could get mental access to the whole image and traits of the character and the whole environment.In addition,the language description is mainly based on illocutionary metonymy that some components of the speech act scenarios stand for other components.At last,the presentation of plot depends on the metonymic mode PART FOR WHOLE or SUBEVENT FOR EVENT.Thirdly,there are three functions of cognitive metonymy in the novel.To begin with,it helps readers to deepen understanding of the theme by better interpreting the character,plot and setting.Besides,it keeps the writing concise and clear without redundancy.What's more,it activates readers' imagination to construct a unique fictional world.This study has both theoretical and practical significance.It not only enhances the explanatory power of cognitive metonymy theory,but also provides an effective guidance to people's reading and writing of literary works.