Đang tải... (xem toàn văn)
I Full name Tran Thi Thu Trang (1985) Class 18C College of Foreign Languages VNU Metonymy and its implications for teaching vocabulary I Abstract Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to a second language learner understanding what shehe hears and reads in school; and to communicating successfully with other people Among many issues related to vocabulary, linguists and teachers of English nowadays have paid more attention to metonymy, one aspect of transference of meaning It is also co.
Full name : Tran Thi Thu Trang (1985) Class: 18C College of Foreign Languages - VNU Metonymy and its implications for teaching vocabulary I Abstract Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to a second language learner understanding what she/he hears and reads in school; and to communicating successfully with other people Among many issues related to vocabulary, linguists and teachers of English nowadays have paid more attention to metonymy, one aspect of transference of meaning It is also considered to be helpful for learners in the process of building up a large store of words and using language creatively I have been a teacher of English for just one year; In some readings lessons I have taught, I found that my students had difficulties comprehending words which should be understood in their metonymic sense For such reason, I decide to study metonymy and try to find ways for teaching this effectively by consulting ideas presented in research on this subject of former MA students because I have not got much experience in teaching In this paper, I’d like to review the matter of metonymy and present its implications for teaching vocabulary II What is metonymy? According to Nguyen Hoa, metonymy can be defined as the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated Metonymy works by contiguity rather than similarity According to standard tradition, metonymy is defined as a “figure in which one word is substituted for another on the basis of some material, causal, or conceptual relation Some substitutions include palce-forinstitution, thing-for-perception, 0r object-for-possessor, or part-for-whole, or place-for-event For Nunberg (1978, 1979), metonymy is a case of “deferred reference”, in which a speaker uses a description of A and succeeds in referring to B Nunberg also regards metonymic uses as a kind of “local” word uses that are perceived as rational against a system of beliefs that is available only to a subsection of the community According to Galperin I.R, metonymy is based on a different type of relation between the dictionary and contextual meanings, a relation based not on identification, but on some kind of association connecting the two concepts which these meanings represent From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Metonymy is defined from two different perspectives In rhetoric, metonymy is the substitution of one word for another word with which it is associated In cognitive linguistics, metonymy refers to the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex entity and is one of the basis characteristics of cognition It is common for people to take one well-understood or easy-to-perceive aspect of something and use that aspect to stand either for the thing as a whole or for some other aspect or part of it Sometimes, metonymy is seen as a specific kind of symbolism by which the most essential component of an object is abstracted to represent it For example, if a person is well-known for his red hair, this feature “red hair” can lend itself to referring to the person who has red hair That red hair is getting angry with his wife According to Kukharenko V.A, metonymy also becomes instrumental in enriching the vocabulary of the language and it is based on contiguity (nearness) or objects of phenomena So, according to those definitions, metonymy can be understood as a transference of meaning based on a logical or physical connection between things In metonymy, a thing is described by its action, its function or by some significant features It is one of the means of forming the new meanings of words in the language Many examples of metonymy are highly conventionalized and easy to interpret However, many others depend on an ability to infer what the speaker has in mind The metonymy in the strings are too quite is easier to understand if you are familiar with orchestral music Or we can say that we have to rely on context, background knowledge and inference to understand metonymic expressions III Types of metonymy Metonymy is classified into types according to Alexey in his article “The metonymic way of an attributive description of the subject: cultural aspect” Direct, or primary, metonymy Direct metonymy is the direct transference of the meaning to the object on the basis of association with the subject itself For example: “We could hear the cheery clatter of our knives, the laughing voices…” (J.K Jerome) In this case, the participle “laughing” that characterizes the subject expressed in this sentence by the pronoun “we” is used with the noun “voices”, although no voice can laugh by itself; it is the property of human being The description is transferred from the subject itself to its part, so it is obvious that this sentence is an example of primary metonymy An interesting example of primary metonymy is its usage in such a cultural phenomenon as wishes By saying to each other “Happy New Year!” or “Merry Christmas!”, people in reality explicate the thought “ I wish you to be happy in the new year” or “I wish you to be merry on Christmas” The usage of direct metonymy is quite obvious in cases like these Indirect, or secondary, metonymy This type of metonymy is the double transference of the meaning to another object on the basis of association with the manner of action of the subject mediated by the subject itself For example: “Poirot waved an impatient hand.” (A Christie) Here is the analogous transference of the meaning from the manner os an action of the subject (waved impatiently) to the object (hand), mediated by the subject (Poirot), because it is not the hand that is impatient, but Poirot himself waves impatiently Partial metonymy Differently from the first two types, this type of metonymy employs the use of an attribute which acquires a certain degree of associativeness with the subject For example: “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright In the forests of the night What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmertry?” (W.Blake) In this fragment, the usage of metonymy can be observed in the nouns “hand” and “eye” The attribute “immortal” characterizing the subject of this transference (obviously “God”) does not bear in itself the pronounced metonymic complexion, but has only a shade of the associative transference As a matter of fact, the attribute “immortal” only adds to nominative metonymy in the words “hand” and “eye”, and therefore can not by itself be regarded as complete and self-sufficient metonymy IV Cases of metonymy The relationship between words are based simply on a close connection in everyday experience That close connection can be based on a container – contents relation (bottle-coke; can-juice), a whole-part relation (car-wheels; house – roof) or a representative – symbol relationship (King – crown; the President – the White House) We will look at some cases of metonymy as follows 1 Name of container to refer to the thing contained Examples: The kettle is boiling (1) He drank the whole cup (2) Obviously, the kettle can not boil as well as the man can not swallow the cup However, we all understand that the water in the kettle is boiling and the man drank some coffee or some tea in the cup, not the cup itself In other words, “kettle” and “cup” in this examples are used to refer to other things, which are contained in those kinds of containers The following table shows how these words carry different meanings in original use and metonymic sense: kettle Original use Metonymic use a container with a lid, handle Water boiled in the and a spout, used for boiling kettle cup water Container shaped like a bowl, Water/coffee/tea/etc usually with a handle, used for in the cup drinking tea, coffee, etc Names of parts of human body used as symbols Human beings in the process of using language firstly got to know about their own body and gave names to its parts Later, when they discover the world outside , they compared the surrounding objects with their own body Hence the name of parts of human body are transferred to denote many other things or parts of things in the real world In that case, we have “metaphor” However, sometimes names of parts of human body are used to be the symbol for characteristics of a kind of person Examples: The boy has a very clever head This is an example of indirect metonymy Head is normally considered as the most important part of the body which controls the operation of the whole body and it contains the brain which has direct relation to a person’s intelligence So if that person is very clever, the word “head” is employed to symbol that characteristic The concrete to refer to the abstract Concrete is defined as what you can see or feel Abstract, however, is something existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical reality It is normally difficult to express something abstract, so people tend to use the concrete to visualize the abstract, to give it “a physical reality” Here is an example: “First we must roll up our sleeves.” Originally, “roll up the sleeves” denotes an action which is regularly done when people want to start doing something by making the sleeves in the shape of a tube However, in this example, the phrase is understood as making a move of trying Materials to refer to the things made of the materials In many cases, people find it is not easy to name something and they are not sure about what is the most appropriate way to call it Then, the name of materials are taken to name their products Examples: Can you give me a rubber, please? rubber Original use Metonymic sense Material got from juice of a A rubber (eraser) which tropical plant that can be is used for removing In this stretched and does not allow pencil marks from paper liquid to pass through it situation, a rubber is made of rubber The metonymic sense of the word really works effectively because it not only helps to name the object but also is a useful way to distinguish them from other objects Name of the author to refer to his works Author and his works share a very close relation and his name can be normally not be separated from his works That seems to be the reasons why authors’ names are transferred to denote their work Example: I love reading Shakespeare before going to bed Original use Metonymic sense Shakespeare Name of an English playwright Shakespeare’s works The transfer of names of inventors or authors as “volt”, “ampere”, “watt” are also found Part to refer to a whole and vice versa The relation between a part and a whole is always easy to be seen, so that metonymy can bas eon this relation to transfer the meaning of words Firstly, we look at some examples in which the words denoting the parts can substitute for the words of the wholes Examples: We live in the same roof Can you see a sail on the horizon? roof sail Original use Metonymic sense The structure that covers or House/building forms the top of a building A part of the boat which the Boat wind blows against to make the boat travel through the water The “roof” and the “sail” are the two distinguishing features of a house and a (sailing) boat As a type of extension, metonymy use those parts to refer to the whole objects However, sometimes metonymy is also the use of the whole object to refer to a part of the object Examples: Don’t sit down! The chair has been broken There are just three legs now She is wearing a fox Chair Original use Metonymic sense A piece of furniture for A leg of the chair one person to sit on, with a back, a seat and four fox legs A wild animal of the dog The skin and fur family with reddish- of the fox used to brown fur, a pointed face make coats, etc and a thick heavy tail Symbol to refer to representative The convention of using capital cities to represent countries or their governments is another example of metonymy Consider the following example: Hanoi highly appreciates all what have done by Washington in order to build up a good relationship between the two countries Hanoi Washington Original use Name of Vietnam’s capital Metonymic use Vietnamese Name of United States of government American America’s capital government Others A part from those types of metonymical relations, other types can be found in English including: spatial, causal, functional and transfer of geographical names Examples: He was elected chair of the city council (spatial) Fear of failure was bred into him at an early age (causal) He penned a letter to the local paper (functional) She has bought a new pair of morocco shoes (transfer) The chair Original use Metonymic sense The position of being in The person who charge of a meeting or a holds the position of committee being in charge of a meeting fear or a committee The bad feeling that danger you have when you Pen morocco An instrument used are in danger for To pen: to write writing with ink something Name of a country A sport team From what we have mentioned, we find that metonymy is a powerful way to transfer meaning of a word to refer to another referent By simply using the contiguity between notions basing on metonymical relations, English people have changed their language V Implications for English Vocabulary Teaching In Vietnamese everyday life, metonymy is used in many different contexts and becomes very familiar with people without any questions about the existences of it Vietnamese people rarely question the source of underlined words in the following examples: Đi uống vài chén đi! “Bàn tay ta làm nên tất Có sức người sỏi đá thành cơm.” Metonymy is not just a figure of speech, but reflects an important part of the way people ordinarily conceptualize themselves, events and the everyday world Metonymy also helps structure various aspects of inference generation in discourse, as well as people’s understanding and use of contextual expression, indirect speech acts, common gestures, and colloquial tautologies Because of that, in the process of teaching English, especially English vocabulary, teaching metonymy is essential and important Learning about metonymy will help students enrich their vocabulary so as to make their communication successful and effective Some linguists say that teachers can illustrate the cognitive nature of metonymy, and guide students to explore the metonymic motivation of a word This will help students to make clear the internal relationship among different meanings of one word, make reasonable cognitive reasoning, and gradually grasp the language rules In this way their learning efficiency will be greatly improved and their vocabulary amount will be expanded a lot However, I prefer the idea that teachers help students find the link between the word’s original use and metonymic sense, which means providing them some relations which can help students to understand metonymic sense without the help of their teacher, and to create their own metonymy Making a comparison between the two languages seems one of the best ways to realize the matter and avoid any mistakes in using language and translation This task should be guided carefully in the classroom then teacher asks students to it at home after every lesson In addition, teachers should make clear any points of the similarities and differences between metonymy in English and that in Vietnamese for students For students from pre-intermediate level of English they can draw conclusion themselves with their language, so let them give examples of metonymy and then contrast the two languages By this way, teachers can help students not only be able to interpret the meaning themselves but also build up their skills of reasoning in using language and develop their communicative competence Beside its usefulness in learning vocabulary, metonymy is also helpful in translation Teachers should tell students to avoid word-by-word translation and should be aware of the similarities and differences between the use of metonymy in English and Vietnamese In short, we deeply understand that the world exists as a systematic unit in which every element has relations with each other, so that language is capable of denoting different things when using the same language element The transference of meaning of a word, therefore, is necessary in the process of using language creatively and effectively Metonymy, together with metaphor and other means of transference of meaning, is helping to enrich vocabulary of every language References Kearns, K (2000) Semantics New York: Palgrave Macmillan Saeed, J I (2005) Semantics Oxford, UK: Blackwell Lyons, J (1996) Linguistic Semantics - An introduction Cambridge: CUP Hurford, I.R., and Heasley, B (2003) Semantics - A course book Vietnam: First New 5 Nguyen Hoa (2004) Understanding English Semantics Hanoi: VNU Publishing House Vo Dai Quang (2005) Semantics Hanoi: Publishing House of Culture and Information Pham, Thi Hoai Thu (2007) Metonymy as the transference of meaning: a contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese Hanoi ... adds to nominative metonymy in the words “hand” and “eye”, and therefore can not by itself be regarded as complete and self-sufficient metonymy IV Cases of metonymy The relationship between words... Some substitutions include palce-forinstitution, thing -for- perception, 0r object -for- possessor, or part -for- whole, or place -for- event For Nunberg (1978, 1979), metonymy is a case of “deferred... people have changed their language V Implications for English Vocabulary Teaching In Vietnamese everyday life, metonymy is used in many different contexts and becomes very familiar with people