Cover not available

Article published In: Applying Embodied Cognition and Cognitive Linguistics to language teaching:
Edited by Paolo Della Putta and Ferran Suñer
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 21:1] 2023
► pp. 86–114

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required
Regular articles

The role of metonymy in naming

If longhair then apple tree and teacher

ORCiD logo with link | University of South BohemiaČeské Budějovice
Published online: 30 January 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00128.kos
Abstract
The article deals with the role of metonymy in word-formation, specifically in naming extra-linguistic concepts. Its role is approached from an onomasiological perspective, i.e., the starting point in the analysis is the concept to be named. Within this approach, metonymy is seen as a cognitive process (in the dynamic sense) that is inherent in the act of coining any naming unit irrespective of its resulting form, as metonymy provides the perspective from which the concept is mentally accessed, and the morphological form is an outcome of the subsequent matching of the result of conceptualisation with a suitable constructional schema. This understanding of metonymy, however, does not lead to an unrestricted application of the term. The article suggests that if a consistent view of metonymy in coining words is applied, any formal restrictions on its use turn out to be irrelevant.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Word-formation and metonymy
  • 3.The process of naming
  • 4.Implications for the role of metonymy in word-formation
    • 4.1Naming is metonymic irrespective of the resulting form
    • 4.2Naming is metonymic irrespective of the word-class of the base word in the derivative
    • 4.3Metonymy at stages
      • 4.3.1Metonymy prior to naming
      • 4.3.2The part of icm for whole icm metonymy
      • 4.3.3Further conceptualisation of the selected part(s) of the ICM
    • 4.4No metonymy within the selection of the suffix
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
References
Barcelona, A. (2003a). Introduction. The cognitive theory of metaphor and metonymy. In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads (pp. 1–28). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003b). On the possibility of claiming a metonymic motivation for a conceptual metaphor. In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads (pp. 31–58). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Reviewing the properties and prototype structure of metonymy. In R. Benczes, A. Barcelona & F. J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez (Eds.), Defining metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics. Towards a consensus view (pp. 7–58). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Basilio, M. (2006). Metaphor and metonymy in word-formation. DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada, 221, 67–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bauer, L. (2017). Metonymy and the semantics of word-formation. Proceedings of the Mediterranean Morphology Meetings, 111, 1–13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Booij, G. (2010). Construction morphology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brdar, M. (2017). Metonymy and word-formation: Their interactions and complementation. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, W. (2002). The role of domains in the interpretation of metaphors and metonymies. In R. Dirven & R. Pörings (Eds.), Metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast (pp. 161–205). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desfayes, M. (1998). A thesaurus of bird names: Etymology of European lexis through paradigms. Sion: Musée cantonal dhistoire naturelle et La Murithienne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dirven, R. (1999). Conversion as a conceptual metonymy of event schemata. In K. U. Panther & G. Radden (Eds.), Metonymy in language and thought (pp. 275–287). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dokulil, M. (1962). Tvoření slov v češtině I. Teorie odvozování slov. Praha: ČAV.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gosler, A. (2019). What’s in a name? The legacy and lexicon of birds. British Wildlife, 30(6), 391–397.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grzega, J. (2005). Onomasiologial approach to word-formation. A comment on Pavol Štekauer: Onomasiological approach to word-formation. SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 21, 76–80.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Summary, supplement and index for Grzega, Bezeichnungswandel, 2004. Onomasiology Online, 81, 18–196.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gutiérrez Rubio, E. (2021). Metonymy in Spanish word formation. In A. Fábregas, V. Acedo-Matellán, G. Armstrong, M. C. Cuervo & I. Pujol Payet (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish morphology (pp. 399–415). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M., & Sims, A. D. (2010). Understanding morphology. London: Hodder Education.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huddleston, R., & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janda, L. A. (2011). Metonymy in word-formation. Cognitive Linguistics, 22(2), 359–392. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koch, P. (2001). Metonymy: Unity in diversity. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 21, 201–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z., & Radden, G. (1998). Metonymy: Developing a cognitive linguistic view. Cognitive Linguistics, 9(1), 37–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought, 2nd edition (pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (1987 / 1991). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Reference-point constructions. Cognitive Linguistics, 41, 1–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levinson, S., & Majid, A. (2014). Differential ineffability and the senses. Mind & Language, 29(4), 407–427. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lipka, L. (2006). Naming Units (NUs), Observational Linguistics and Reference as a Speech Act or What’s in a Name. SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics, 31, 30–39.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mathesius, V. (1975). A functional analysis of present day English on a general linguistic basis (Ed. Vachek, J.). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nesset, T. (2010). The art of being negative: Metonymical morphological constructions in contrast. Oslo Studies in Language, 21, 261–279. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Panther, K. U., & Thornburg, L. L. (2000). A conceptual analysis of English -er nominals. Essen: LAUD.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). The roles of metaphor and metonymy in English -er nominals. In R. Dirven & R. Pörings (Eds.), Metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast (pp. 279–319). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radden, G., & Kövecses, Z. (1999). Towards a theory of metonymy. In K. U. Panther & G. Radden (Eds.), Metonymy in language and thought (pp. 17–59). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radden, G., & Panther, K. U. (2004). Introduction: Reflections on motivation. In G. Radden & K. U. Panther (Eds.), Studies in linguistic motivation (pp. 1–46). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Štekauer, P. (2001). Fundamental principles of an onomasiological theory of English word-formation. Onomasiology Online, 21, 15–54.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Williams, W. (1906). Maori bird names. The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 15(4), 193–208.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Andreeva, Anastasia
2025. Polysemy of Agentive Suffixes in Slavic: Toward a Cognitive Semantic Analysis. Jezikoslovni zapiski 31:1 DOI logo
Domínguez Chenguayen, Frank Joseph
2025. Names, semantics, and cognition in native varieties of the potato tubercle in the peasant community of Pampacorral (Lares, Cuzco): Towards a cognitive approach to the naming process. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association 13:1 ► pp. 273 ff. DOI logo
Kos, Petr
2025. Diversity of schemas in English bahuvrihi compounds. Morphology 35:4 ► pp. 545 ff. DOI logo
Barcelona, Antonio
2024. Trends in cognitive-linguistic research on metonymy. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 11:1 ► pp. 51 ff. DOI logo
Gutiérrez Rubio, Enrique & Petr Kos
2024. Procesos conceptuales en la acuñación de términos que denotan PENE (español americano). Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica :44 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue