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These examples are traditional, fixed in dictionaries. However, when such meanings
are included in dictionaries, there usually a label fig (“figurative use”). This shows that the
new meaning has not entirely replaced the primary one, but, as it were co-exists with it.
Metonymy used in language-in-action or speech, i.e., contextual metonymy, is
genuine metonymy and reveals a quite unexpected substitution of one word for another, or
even of one concept for another, on the ground of some strong impression produced by a
chance feature of the thing.
Example:
“Then they came” in. Two of them, a man with long fair
moustaches and a silent
dark man…Definitely,the moustache and I had nothing in common”. (Doris Lessing
“Retreat to Innocence”) the word “moustache” stands for the man himself, metonymy
indicates that the speaker knows
nothing of the man in question, this is the first time the
speaker has seen him.
Many attempts have bean made to pinpoint the types of relation which metonymy is
based on. Among them the following are most common:
1. a concrete thing used instead of an abstract notion. In this case the thing becomes a
symbol of the notion, as in “The camp, the pulpit and the law” “For rich men’s sons are
free” (Shelley)`
2. The container instead of the thing contained:
“The hall applauded”
3. The relation of proximity, as in:
“The round game table was boisterous and happy.” (Dickens)
4. The material instead of the thing made of it as in:
“The marble spoke”.
5. The instrument which the doer uses in performing the action instead of the action or the
doer himself, as in ;
“Well, Mr. Weller, says the gentl’mn, you’re a very good
whip, and can do what
you like with your horses, we know.” (Dickens).
The list is in no way complete. Take are many other types of relations which may serve as
a basis for metonymy.
Irony – is a stylistic device also based on the simultaneous realization of two logical
meanings-dictionaries and contextual, but the two meaning
stand in opposition to each
other.
for example:
“It must be
delightful to find oneself in a foreign country without a penny in one’s
pocket”. This word acquires a meaning quite the opposite to its primary dictionary
meaning (unpleasant) the word containing the irony is marked by intonation. It has an
emphatic stress. “I like a parliamentary debate particularly when ‘tis not too late’ (Byron)
T h e c o n t e x t i s a r r a n g e d s o t h a t t h e q u a l i f y i n g w o r d i n i r o n y r e v e r s e s t h e
d ir e c t io n o f t h e e v a l u a t io n a n d a p o s i t i v e m e a n i n g i s u n d e r s t o o d a s a n e g a t i v e
o n e a n d ( m u c h - m u c h r a r e ) v i c e v e r s a . “ S h e t u r n e d w it h t h e s w e e t s m i l e o f a n
a l l ig a t o r ” . T he w o r d ” sw e e t ” r e v e r se t he ir p o s it iv e me a n in g
int o t h e n e g a t iv e
o n e d u e t o t h e c o n t e x t . S o , l i k e a l l o t h e r l e x i c a l s t y l i s t i c d e v i c e s i r o n y d o e s n o t
e x i s t o u t s id e t h e c o n t e x t .
T h e r e a r e t w o t yp e s o f ir o n y : v e r b a l i r o n y a n d s u s t a i n e d ir o n y . I n t h e s t y l i s t i c
d e v i s e o f v e r b a l i r o n y it i s a l w a y s p o s s i b l e t o i n d i c a t e t h e
e x a c t w o r d w h o s e
35
c o n t e x t u a l m e a n i n g d i a m e t r i c a l l y o p p o s e s it s d i c t io n a r y m e a n i n g . A n d w e d e a l
w it h s u s t a i n e d i r o n y w h e n it i s n o t p o s s i b l e t o i n d i c a t e s u c h e x a c t w o r d a n d t h e
e f f e c t o f i r o n y i s c r e a t e d b y n u m b e r o f s t a t e m e n t s b y t h e
w h o l e t e x t . T h i s t yp e o f
ir o n y is fo r me d b y t h e c o nt r a d ic t io n o f t h e sp e a k e r ’s ( w r it e r ’s) c o n s id e r a t io n s
a n d t h e g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d mo r a l a n d e t h i c a l c o d e s .
B) Interaction of primary and derivative logical meaning
Derivative logical meaning always retain some semantic ties
with the primary meaning
and are strongly associated with it. Most of the derivative logical meanings, when fixed in
dictionaries, are usually shown with the words they are connected with and are therefore
frequently referred to as bound logical meanings. The primary and derivative meanings are
sometimes called free and bound meanings respectively, though some of the derivative
meanings are not bound in present-day English.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: