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In:Metaphor and Metonymy in the Digital Age: Theory and methods for building repositories of figurative language
Edited by Marianna Bolognesi, Mario Brdar and Kristina Š. Despot
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication 8] 2019
► pp. 199–224

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Chapter 8
Mereology in the flesh

 | Lund University
Published online: 6 August 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.8.09dev
Figurative language repositories typically encompass expressions that are coded manually in formal content analyses. This chapter proposes to discuss a number of theoretical and methodological issues related to mereology – the study of parts, wholes, and their relation – that are crucial for coding part–whole figurative expressions. This contribution draws the attention to the importance of: distinguishing language and experience of part whole relations; taking into account the existence of two different kinds of whole; and finding ways to implement these distinctions in coding schemes to be used to annotate figurative expressions in electronic repositories. Finally, based on cognitive scientific evidence, this chapter formulates a hypothesis on how part–whole relations are acquired through bodily experiences and therefore could indeed said to be “in the flesh”.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Towards a sharper definition of the part–whole relation
    • 2.1Partonomy is not meronymy
    • 2.2Partonomy is not taxonomy
      • Taxonomy test
      • Partonomy test
    • 2.3Partonomy is not possession
    • 2.4Partonomy is not containment
    • 2.5Partonomy is not contiguity
  • 3.Two different kinds of whole
  • 4.The embodied origin of part–whole relations
  • 5.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (66)
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