SHAKESPEARE ON THE SHELF, BLUE HELMETS ON THE MOVE:

HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIC

CONCEPTUALIZATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN

Katarina RasulićUniversity of Belgrade, Serbia

ekv@eunet.rs

Focus: Metonymic patterns that recruit concepts from the human domain as vehicles (e.g. AUTHOR FOR HIS WORK) or as targets (e.g. PIECE OF CLOTHING FOR PERSON) – in English and Serbian

Some of the stock examples in the cognitive linguistic literature on metonymy include humans as vehicles or targets – variously considered within broader classifications of metonymic mappings and/or with regard to the ontological and cognitive salience of participants in a metonymic mapping

Shakespeare on the shelf, blue helmets on the move

Humans – “very good reference points in metonymic transfers” (Langacker 1993)

“HUMAN OVER NON-HUMAN” – one of the basic cognitive principles of relative salience (Langacker 1993), governing the selection of the preferred vehicle in default metonymies (Kövecses and Radden 1998)

“On the whole, humans are not very good metonymic targets” (Handl 2011)

Humans as metonymic vehicles and targets

1) What metonymic vehicles commonly afford mental access to HUMANS as desired targets?

2) What target concepts are commonly accessed via HUMANS as metonymic vehicles?

3) To what extent is human-related metonymic conceptualization in English and Serbian language/culture sensitive?

4) What does the metonymic portrayal of human beings reveal about the way people conceive of themselves?

5) What does human-related metonymic conceptualization reveal about the nature of metonymy?

Human beings “through the metonymic looking glass” in English and Serbian

917 examples of human-related metonymies in English and Serbian (without word-class change)

Sources of data: - linguistic literature (Ullmann 1957, Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Norrick 1981, Nunberg 1995, Papafragou 1995, Gortan-Premk 1997, Kövecses and Radden 1998, Kovačević 1999, Panther and Radden 1999, Barcelona 2000, 2003, Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez 2000, Alač and Coulson 2004, Peirsman and Geeraerts 2006, Warren 2006, Rasulić 2006, 2010, Handl 2011 etc.) - electronic corpora (BNC, NKSSJ) - selected sources of authentic language usage (internet forums and chats, conversations)

Qualitative analysis, descriptive, contrastive, usage-oriented

Data and approach

A parallel overview of the most productive metonymic patterns 1) X FOR HUMAN

2) HUMAN FOR X found in both English and Serbian

Language/culture specific aspects (lexical and grammatical)

Human-related metonymic conceptualization and the nature of metonymy

Outline

X FOR HUMAN:BODY PART FOR PERSON

English Serbian

A new face in the band

High costs per head A city of a thousand souls

We need young brains now The world’s greatest minds Fresh blood in the team Where lonely hearts meet A hungry mouth to feed Hungry stomachs don’t

care about philosophy

Poznata lica u sali ‘Familiar faces in the room’

Koliko to dođe po glavi? ‘How much is it per head’

U selu ima dvesta duša ‘There are two hundred souls in the village’

Odliv mladih mozgova ‘The drain of young brains’

Najveći umovi sveta ‘The world’s greatest minds’

Imamo svežu krv u firmi ‘We have fresh blood in the firm’

Zna mnogo usamljenih srca ‘(S)he knows many lonely hearts’

Hraniti tolika gladna usta ‘To feed so many hungry mouths’

Gladni stomaci ne idu u šoping ‘Hungry stomachs don’t go shopping’

X FOR HUMAN:BODY PART FOR PERSON

English Serbian

We are really short of hands

Who can argue with the fastest legs in the game?

Use the stairs, you lazy butts!

Ormonde Jayne’s expert noses will help sniff out your own signature scent.

Trebaće nam još jedan par ruku ‘We’ll need another pair of hands’

HSV traži osam miliona evra za najbrže noge Evrope ‘HSV is asking for eight millions for the fastest legs of Europe’

Muka mi je od tih lenjih guzica ‘I am sick of all those lazy butts’

Nazdravlje svima vama junačkim jetrama! ‘Cheers to all of you heroic livers!’

X FOR HUMAN:CLOTHING/UNIFORM FOR WEARER(S)

English Serbian

Are men designed to chase skirts? Green Berets are highly educated. The redcoats were trapped. A dozen white coats marched into the room. He wished to impress all the crowns of Europe. The young woman nodded to the tuxedo.

On i dalje trči za suknjama ‘He is still chasing skirts’

Crvene beretke blokirale autoput ‘Red Berets have blocked the highway’

Crveni mundiri pucali su na masu u Bostonu ‘The redcoats shot at the mass in Boston’

Beli mantili štrajkuju pred Vladom ‘White coats are protesting in front of the government’

Poslednju reč ima Kruna ‘The Crown has the last word’

Fantomke su došle spremne. ‘The

balaclavas have come prepared’

X FOR HUMAN:OBJECT USED FOR USER

English Serbian

Colette: One of Paris‘s sharpest pens.

Please ask the cameras not to film yet.

Have you met our first violin?

The guns were ordered to fire.

Za to se zalažu najveća domaća

pera. ‘The greatest domestic pens

appeal for that’ Druga kamera ponovo kasni. ‘The

second camera is late again’ Predstavljamo prvu violinu

orkestra RTS-a. ‘We present the

first violin of the RTS orchestra’ Saša Petrović, prvi pištolj Srbije.

‘Saša Petrović, Serbia’s first gun’

X FOR HUMAN:(SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT) OBJECT FOR PERSON

English Serbian

The ham sandwich wants his check.

Come on, EU passports over here.

Dolari neka pređu na šalter broj dva. ‘May dollars move to counter number two.”

Kasa tri da dođe u magacin. ‘Cash register 3 should come to the storage.’

X FOR HUMAN:(SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT) PROPERTY FOR PERSON

English Serbian

The ulcer in room 12 is in good mood.

Are you an L or an XL?

Sve moje petice otišle su na takmičenje. ‘All my fives(=As) have gone to the competition’

X FOR HUMAN:PLACE FOR INHABITANTS/OCCUPANTS

English Serbian

Bangladesh votes today. New York fears new floods. The whole city is dancing.

Her laughing woke up the whole house.

Our building decided not to renew the contract with AMS.

The round is not over until the last room has finished.

Poljska žali predsednika. ‘Poland mourns the president’

Novi Sad strepi od zagađene vode. ‘Novi Sad is anxious about the polluted water’

Čitavo selo diglo se na noge. ‘The whole village rose to feet’

Grom je uznemirio celu kuću. ‘The thunder upset the whole house’

Naš soliter se saglasio da se renovira fasada. ‘Our skyscraper has consented that the facade should be refurbished’

Učionica 230 završava ispit u 13h. ‘Classroom 230 is finishing the exam at 13h’

English Serbian

China could reach Moon by 2020.

Germany wins the world cup.

Britain strips Mugabe of knighthood.

Washington blames Tehran for Iraqi violence.

Japan pomera granice u IT sektoru ‘Japan is moving the boundaries in the IT sector’

Portugalija prošla na kvalifikacijama ‘Portugal has passed the qualifications’

Češka prodaje praški aerodrom. ‘Czech Republic is selling the Prague airport’

Beograd i Priština potpisali sporazum o normalizaciji odnosa. ‘Belgrade and Priština have signed the agreement on the normalization of relations’

X FOR HUMAN:COUNTRY/CAPITAL FOR SPECIFIC PEOPLE (REPRESENTATIVES / DECISION MAKERS)

X FOR HUMAN:INSTITUTION / ASSEMBLY FOR MEMBERS

English Serbian

The University decided to invest in this project.

The Congress voted against the measures.

The White House keeps quiet.

Creating the correspondent: How the BBC reached the frontline in WWII.

The gathering cried out in a single voice.

Univerzitet se neće složiti. ‘The University will not agree’

Skupština danas glasa o Zakonu o informisanju. ‘The Parliament votes on the Information law today’

Bela kuća je spremna za pregovore. ‘The White House is ready for negotiations’

Politika je bila na licu mesta. ‘Politika was on the spot’

Cela svadba je zapevala.‘The whole wedding started singing’.

HUMAN FOR X:PRODUCER FOR PRODUCT

English Serbian

The devil wears Prada. Keep calm and drive a

Renault.

kalashnikov, sandwich, diesel, volt, cardigan, mackintosh, macadam, guillotine...

Đavo nosi Pradu. ‘The Devil wears Prada’

Kad može da bira, pije Radovanovića. ‘Whenever he can choose, he drinks Radovanović’

kalašnjikov, sendvič, dizel, rendgen, volt, giljotina, makadam...

HUMAN FOR X:AUTHOR FOR HIS WORK

English Serbian

Do you like Brahms? Ishiguro has been

translated into over thirty languages.

That looks like an authentic Dali.

He keeps watching Tarantino.

Banksy is all over the city.

Volite li Bramsa? ‘Do you like Brahms?’

Rušdi je već odavno rasprodat. ‘Rushdi has long been sold out’

On ima pravog Klimta u radnoj sobi. ‘He has a real Klimt in his study’

I dalje najradije gleda Felinija. ‘He still watches Fellini rather than anyone else’

Jesi li video Koraksa juče? ‘Did you see Corax(=political cartoonist) yesterday? ‘

HUMAN FOR X:CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLED

English Serbian

Will Obama bomb Iran? Napoleon defeated

Austria and Russia at Austerlitz.

Sheila has five lectures this week.

Buš je bombardovao Irak. ‘Bush bombed Iraq’

Živojin Mišić je porazio austrougarsku vojsku u Kolubarskoj bici. ‘Živojin Mišić defeated the Austro-Hungarian army in the Kolubara battle’

Položio sam Katarinu. ‘I’ve passed Katarina’.

Ja sutra imam ispite u svih pet učionica. ‘Tomorrow I have exams in all five classrooms”

HUMAN FOR X:LEADER FOR PERIOD OF LEADERSHIP

English Serbian

The world before and after Hitler.

Modern medical services were abolished during Pol Pot.

Political and cultural action in France under de Gaulle.

The company reached its peak under Robertson.

Tako je bilo i za vreme Hitlera. ‘It was like that during Hitler as well’

U kakvom je stanju svet posle Džordža Buša? ‘What state is the world in after George Bush’

Pod Sadamom su se osećali sigurnije. ‘They felt safer under Saddam’

Odsek je procvetao za vreme Kostića. ‘The Department thrived during Kostić’

HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR HIS/HER (VALUABLE) POSSESSION

English Serbian

Her husband ran out of petrol on Tower bridge.

Have you ever been towed away?

What to do when you have a flat tyre?

Abramovich docked on Manhattan’s West Side.

Ivan se parkirao iza pozorišta. ‘Ivan is parked /lit. has parked himself/ behind the theatre’

Opet me je odneo pauk. ‘I have been towed away again’

Juče su mi probušili gumu. ‘I had my tyre flattened yesterday’

Piter Mank je vezan u Tivtu. ‘Peter Munk is docked in Tivat’

HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR HIS/HER SOCIAL POSITION

English Serbian

He doesn’t want to keep to many workers under him.

A bad boss is one who is always trying to please those above him.

Njen muž ima dvadeset radnika pod sobom. ‘Her husband has twenty workers under him’

Ima previše šefova iznad sebe. ‘He has too many bosses above him’

HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR THE PLACE WHERE HE/SHE LIVES OR WORKS

English Serbian

Mary is just around the corner.

The boss is on the top floor.

The secretary is near the entrance.

Idemo kod mene, ja sam odmah tu iza ćoška. ‘Let’s go to my place /lit. to me/, I am right around the corner’

Doktor Petrović je na trećem spratu. ‘Doctor Petrović is on the third floor’

Direktor je odmah pored lifta desno. ‘The director is immediately on the right from the elevator’

HUMAN FOR X:PERSON FOR SITUATIONALLY RELEVANT OBJECT/PROPERTY

English Serbian

That’s me. To sam ja. ‘That’s me’

Language specific aspects: LexicalBODY PART FOR PERSON

English Serbian

poor soul, fresh legs, private eye...

deckhand, paleface, egghead, loudmouth, redneck, hunchback...

dušo moja ‘my soul’ – my dear...

Semantic extension of lice ‘face’=person: službeno lice lit. ‘official face’, vojno lice lit. ‘military face’, zaposleno lice lit. ‘employed face’, N.N. lice lit. ‘NN face’, uhapšeno lice lit. ‘arrested face’...

Anglicism: faca On je prava faca. ‘He

is a real face(=a cool person)’

Language/culture specific aspects: LexicalCLOTHING/UNIFORM FOR WEARERS)

English Serbian

blue collars, white collars

hard hats Mingle among the

suits of Wall Street.

Odmah se šajkače i opanci okupe oko tebe. ‘Šajkače /traditional Serbian hat for men, pl./ and opanci /traditional Serbian shoes, pl./ gather around you immediately’

Loan translation: Plave kragne mogu da zarade više od belih. ‘Blue collars can earn more than the white ones’

Language specific aspects: Grammatical

English Serbian

Watch the fastest legs in town! His name is Michael Seida.

I saw the new Shakespeare, but I didn’t like it.

Anaphoric reference – geared towards the target concept

Mudre glave-FEM su zaključile-FEM da se one-FEM time više neće baviti ‘The wise heads-FEM decided-FEM that they-FEM will not deal with it any longer.’

Gledao sam novog Šekspira, ali mi se nije dopao-MASC. ‘I saw the new Shakespeare, but I didn’t like him’

Anaphoric reference – affected by the grammatical features of the vehicle concept

The metonymic portrayal of HUMANS in English and Serbian: Preferences towards the recruitment of particular human-related concepts as metonymic vehicles and targets

Humans – mentally accessed via:

Humans – providing mental access to:

BODY PARTS WHAT WE WEAR (AS

MEMBERS OF PROFESSIONAL/SOCIAL GROUPS)

OBJECTS WE USE OBJECTS/PROPERTIES

ASSOCIATED WITH US IN A GIVEN SITUATION

WHERE WE LIVE WHERE WE WORK

WHAT WE CREATE WHAT WE CONTROL WHAT WE OWN THE TIME DURING

WHICH WE ARE IN CONTROL

WHERE WE LIVE/WORK OUR SOCIAL POSITION OBJECTS/PROPERTIES

ASSOCIATED WITH US IN A GIVEN SITUATION

Illustrative of “our capacity to invoke the conception of any one entity as a cognitive reference point for purposes of establishing mental contact with another“ (Langacker 1993: 1)

That’s me. Online resolution of underspecified targets –

within the current discourse space (Langacker 2001) - the inferential nature of metonymy (Panther and Thornburg 2003)

HUMAN-RELATED METONYMIES IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN: OPEN-ENDED

e.g. PERSON FOR HIS/HER CAR I’ve run out of petrol. I

am parked behind the museum. I was towed away. He is much faster than me.

*I was painted yesterday. *I was repaired by a first-class mechanic. *I was sold at a good price.

On the other hand - constraints within an existing pattern

Human-related metonymies in English and Serbian – noteworthy range and complexity

Anthropocentricity – one of the prominent features of metonymic conceptualization

Humans – very good as metonymic vehicles but also as metonymic targets (dehumanizing metonymies, agency backgrounding etc.)

Clear preferences towards the recruitment of particular human-related concepts (individual and collective) as metonymic vehicles and targets in English and Serbian tend to outweigh language/culture-specific differences – however, such differences merit more substantial attention - a broader cross-linguistic examination necessary to reveal the conceptual-linguistic interaction

Concluding remarks

The open-endedness and inner constraints of human-related metonymies – a challenge for defining and classifying conceptual metonymy

Human-related metonymies – provide a fruitful platform forcontent-based study of metonymy – a useful insight into the nature of metonymy (conceptual, linguistic, discursive, processing aspects) – in particular, a useful insight into multiple roles of metonymy in meaning making (meaning extension, dynamic meaning construction, meaning imposition)

Concluding remarks

Alač, M. and S. Coulson (2004). The man, the key, or the car: Who or what is parked out back? Cognitive Science Online, Vol. 2., pp. 21-34.

Barcelona, A. (ed.) (2000). Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Barcelona, A. (2003): Metonymy in cognitive linguistics. An analysis and a few modest proposals. In: Cuyckens, H. K.-U. Panther and T. Berg (eds), Motivation in Language: Studies in Honor of Günter Radden. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 223–255.

Barcelona, A. 2008. Metonymy is Not Just a Lexical Phenomenon: On the Operation of Metonymy in Grammar and Discourse. In J. Nils-Lennart, D. Minuch and C. Alm-Arvius (eds.), Selected Papers from the Stockholm 2008 Metaphor Festival. Stockholm: Stockholm UP, 1-40.

Benczes, R., A. Barcelona and F.-J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez (eds). 2011. Defining metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics. Towards a consensus view. (Human Cognitive Processing 28). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Brdar, M. (2007). Topic-continuity, metonymy and locative adverbials: A cognitive-functional account. Suvremena lingvistika, 63: 13-29.

Dirven, R. and R. Pörings (eds.) (2002). Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Gortan-Premk, D. (1997). Polisemija i organizacija leksičkog sistema u srpskom jeziku. Beograd: Institut za srpski jezik SANU.

Handl, S. (2011): The Conventionality of Figurative Language: A Usage-based Study. Tübingen: Narr Verlag.

References (1)

Hilpert, M. (2006): Keeping an eye on the data: Metonymies and their patterns. In: Stefanowitsch, A. and S. T. Gries (eds): Corpus-based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 123-151. Kövecses, Z. and G. Radden (1998): Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics, 9-1, 37-77. Kovačević, M. (1999). Metonimija i sinegdoha. Srpski jezik 4/1-2, 171-202. Lakoff, G. and M. Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Langacker, R.W. (1993): Reference-point constructions, Cognitive Linguistics, 4-1, 1–38. Langacker, R. W. (2001): “Discourse in cognitive grammar”, Cognitive Linguistics, 12, 2001, pp. 143–188. Markert, K. and M. Nissim (2006). Metonymic proper names: A corpus-based account. In: Corpus-based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy (Stefanowitsch, A. and S. Th. Gries, eds.), Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 152-174. Markert, K. and U. Hahn (2002): Understanding metonymies in discourse. Artificial Intelligence 135 (2002), pp. 145–198. Nerlich, B., Todd, Z. and Clarke, D. D. (1999). “‘Mummy, I like being a sandwich’: Metonymy in Language Acquisition”. In: Metonymy in Language and Thought, K.-U. Panther and G. Radden (eds), Amsterdam/Philadelphia:Benjamins, 361-383. Norrick, N. (1981). Semiotic Principles in Semantic Theory. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Nunberg, G. (1995). Transfer of meaning. Journal of Semantics, 1, 109-132.

References (2)

Panther, K.-U. and G. Radden (eds) (1999). Metonymy in Language and Thought. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Panther, K-U. and Thornburg, L. (2003): Metonymies as natural inference and activation schemas. In: Metonymy and Pragmatic Inferencing (K-U. Panther and L. Thornburg, eds), Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 127-147. Panther, K.-U. (2006): Metonymy as a Usage Event. In: Kristiansen, G. (ed.) Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 147-185. Papafragou, A. (1995). Metonymy and relevance. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 7: 141-175. Peirsman, Y. and D. Geeraerts (2006): Metonymy as a prototypical category. Cognitive Linguistics 17-3, 269-316. Rasulić, K. (2006). This could be you: Metonymy as conceptual integration. In: ELLSII75 Proceedings, Volume I (Rasulić, K. and I. Trbojević, eds.), Belgrade: Faculty of Philology, 307-317. Rasulić, K. (2010): Aspekti metonimije u jeziku i mišljenju. [Aspects of metonymy in language and thought]. Theoria, 53/3, pp. 49 – 70. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez, F.J. (2000): The role of mappings and domains in understanding metonymy. In: Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads. A Cognitive Perspective, Antonio Barcelona (ed.), Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 109–132. Ullmann, S. (1957). The Principles of Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell. Warren, B. (2006). Referential Metonymy. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.

References (3)