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  • Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads: A cognitive approach ed. by Antonio Barcelona
  • Chaoqun Xie
Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads: A cognitive approach. Ed. by Antonio Barcelona. (Topics in English linguistics 30.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2000. Pp. x, 356. ISBN: 3110175568. $41.95.

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in approaching metaphor and metonymy from a cognitive perspective, for example, Metaphor in cognitive linguistics (ed. by Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Gerard J. Steen, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1999) and Metonymy in language and thought (ed. by Klaus-Uwe Panther and Günter Radden, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1999). However, the interaction of metaphor and metonymy has been somewhat underinvestigated. The present volume, as suggested by the title, aims to fill this gap by demonstrating that metaphor and metonymy often interact with each other ‘at conceptual and linguistic crossroads’ (1). Herein lies the major contribution of this volume.

This book is largely an outgrowth of two conferences: the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (Free University of Amsterdam, July 1997), and the Fourth Conference of the European Society for the Study of English (Lajos Kossuth University, Debrecen, Hungary, September 1997). In the introduction, Barcelona presents a cognitive theory of metaphor and metonymy, which is more or less shared by most of the contributors and which ensures the coherence of the volume. The introduction also touches upon common traits and existing problems of metaphor and metonymy, before briefly commenting on each of the contributions (which are grouped in two major sections). The first section focuses on ‘The interaction of metaphor and metonymy, and other theoretical issues’. In ‘On the plausibility of claiming a metonymic motivation for conceptual metaphor’ (31–58), Antonio Barcelona argues that almost all metaphors are metonymy-motivated. This claim is echoed in Günter Radden’s contribution, ‘How metonymic are metaphors?’ (93–108). In ‘Refining the inheritance hypothesis: Interaction between metaphoric and metonymic hierarchies’ (59–78), Kurt Feyaerts argues for the possible involvement of different conceptual hierarchies in accounting for the meaning of a linguistic expression. In ‘The scope of metaphor’ (79–92), Zoltán Kövecses deals with three interrelated notions: the scope of linguistics, main meaning focus, and central mapping. Francisco José de Mendoza Ibáñez explores ‘The role of mappings and domains in understanding metonymy’ (109–32). Mark Turner and Gilles Fauconnier’s ‘Metaphor, metonymy, and binding’ (133–45), which concludes the first section, dwells on the interaction of blending with metaphor and metonymy.

The papers making up the second section focus on metaphor and metonymy in language structure and discourse. This section is further divided into two subsections. The first subsection deals with the ways metaphorical and/or metonymic mappings influence semantic change and grammar. In ‘Patterns of meaning extension, “parallel chaining”, subjectification, and modal shifts’ (149–69), Louis Goossens aims ‘to (re)consider the development of the English modal verbs with respect to the meaning extension patterns recognized by cognitive linguistics’ (149). Verena Haser touches upon ‘Metaphor in semantic change’ [End Page 644] (171–94), and in ‘Straight from the heart—metonymic and metaphorical exploration’ (195–213), Susanne Niemeier focuses on conceptualizations of heart metaphors. Klaus-Uwe Panther and Linda Thornburg’s paper deals with ‘The effect for cause metonymy in English grammar’ (215–31), while Péter Pelyvás discusses ‘Metaphorical extension of may and must into the epistemic domain’ (233–50). The second subsection explores metaphor and metonymy in discourse. In ‘Poetry and the scope of metaphor: Toward a cognitive theory of literature’ (253–81), Margaret H. Freeman reexamines Emily Dickinson’s poems within the framework of cognitive linguistics, aiming for a theory called ‘cognitive poetics’. This paper contributes to opening up new avenues for the marriage of literature and cognitive linguistics. In ‘The cohesive role of cognitive metaphor in discourse and conversation’ (283–98), Diane Ponterotto expounds the vital role metaphor plays in structuring conversations. In ‘More metaphorical warfare in the Gulf: Orientalist frames in news coverage’ (299–320), Esra Sandikcioglu analyzes metaphors employed in news...

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