Metonymy in english and vietnamesea contrastive analysis

Reasons for choosing the subject In both daily spoken language and literary language in English and Vietnamese, we often meet figurative use of language that is the way of saying somethi

And lastly, I really like to express my gratefulness to my friends who gave me much advice and great help throughout my study.

Vinh, May 2003

TrÞnh Minh H¶i

Table of contents

table of contents……….2

Part A: Introduction ……… 4

1 Reasons for choosing the subject……… 4

2 The aims of the study………4

3 Scope of the study……… 5

4 Methods of the study………5

5 The design of the study ……… 5

Part B: Contents ………5

Chapter 1 Theoretical preliminaries ……… 6

1.1 Theory of General Semantics ……… 6

1.2 Language habit-Study ……… 6

1.3 The meaning of word ……… 7

1.4 Semantic change ……… 8

1.5 The use of word ……… 9

Chapter 2 Metonymy in English and Vietnamese 11

2.1 Definition ……….……… … 11

2.2 Features of metonymy ……… 13

2.3 Types of metonymy ……… ……… 16

2.3.1Abehavioral-reactions-for-emotionmetonymy ………16

2.3.2Acontroller- for-controlled metonymy ………19

2.3.3 An institution-for people-responsible metonymy ………… 19

2.3.4 An object -used-for -user-metonymy ……… 20

2.3.5Apart-for-wholemetonymy ……… 21

2.3.6Awhole-for-par metonymy ……….24

2.3.7 A physiological-effects-for-emotion metonymy……… 24

2.3.8Aplace -for-event metonymy ……… 26

2.3.9Aproducer-for-producmetonymy ……….27

2.3.10Aname-of-author-for- work metonymy ……….28

2.3.11 Acontainer-fo contained metonymy ……… 29

2.3.12Aconcrete-for-abstract metonymy ……….31

2.3.13Apartof human body-for-symbol metonymy ……….32

2.3.14Amaterial-for-thing-made- of- material metonymy ……… 33

2.3.15Aplace-for-institution metonymy ……… ….33

Chapter 3 The contrastive analysis of Metonymy in English and Vietnamese - Suggested exercises 35

3.1 Similarities ……… 35

3.2 Differences ……… 38

3.3 Suggested exercises ……… 39

Part C: Conclusion ……… 42

References ………

43 appendix………45

Part A Introduction

1 Reasons for choosing the subject

In both daily spoken language and literary language in English and Vietnamese, we often meet figurative use of language that is the way of saying something that is different from a literal expression For example, It is a nightmare, A thousands thanks, She is a snake We are really interested in

studying them, especially metonymy For example, words such as Volt, Ampere, Penicillin…

We can also see that, in fact, language choice not only depends on the speaker or writer’s knowledge, culture but also is a habit Sometimes, people use words without knowing much about their origin and their development of meaning Studying about this phenomenon attracts us very much

More ever, metonymy is not only a linguistic phenomenon that exists in English but also popular in Vietnamese It is interesting and helpful to examine and find out some relationships between two languages That is very helpful because we can not only see the beauty of two languages but also apply our understanding to learning and teaching language, especially learning and teaching English +These are the reasons why I choose this subject for my graduation paper

2 The aims of the study

This study aims at giving a basic knowledge of metonymy and to some extent, explaining how language is enriched

This study also gives specific analysis of metonymy in English and Vietnamese and a contrast between them I hope the result of the study will help the readers have a deep understanding about metonymy including its nature, how it is used in daily language as well as in written language, especially in literature and the effects gained when using it

We also hope that specific analysis and suggested exercises provided will contribute a small part in teaching and learning Semantics in general and metonymy in particular in two languages, especially in English.

3 Scope of the study

We pay attention to metonymy-its features and types in English and Vietnamese

The scope of the investigation is limited to only a few daily spoken languages, some newspapers, science books, literary works in English and Vietnamese

4 Methods of the study

1 Reasons for choosing the subject

2 The aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Methods of the study

5 The design of the study

Part B CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Theoretical preliminaries

Chapter 2 Metonymy in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 3 The contrastive analysis of metonymy in English and Vietnamese - Suggested exercises

Part C CONCLUSION

REFERENCES appendix

Chapter 1 theoretical Preliminaries

1.1.Theory of General Semantics

Korzybski succeeded in formulating a theory and a method, which gives

a means of proper evaluation whenever language is used This body of data and method leading to habits of adequate language-fact relationships he called General Semantics (Ibid p.8).

General Semantics, differing from the other ones, gives emphasis on the effectiveness of human communication It provides a method of studying the part language plays in human affairs

The scientist is able to use words so accurately that they enable him to build bridges and erect giant super natures Perhaps, the scientist’s use of words may provide a clue to help the teacher; the pupil or anyone evaluate his own language habits

There are several things that we can do to use language more efficiently and accurately to achieve understanding and agreement:

a An awareness of the all-pervasive character of language in human being’s daily affairs from infancy to maturity

b A habit of looking to language as a possible clue to some of our misunderstandings and conflicts

c An appreciation of scientific method as applied in the physical sciences and a consideration of the possibility of application of that method to language

1.2 Language habit-Study

An individual’s use of language is a clue to his personal adjustment, his interpersonal relationships, and his degree of maturity A study of language habits should increase self-understanding and promote more effective relationships with others

We are born in and live in a language milieu that is tremendously influential in determining what we believe and how we act We listen to and

take over existing habits of speaking and thinking which profoundly affects our ways of doing things.

And if by the vagaries of existence those habits lead to confusion, misunderstanding, and conflicts, we become caught in a kind of system from which escape comes only by much effort

According to Lee (in “Language Habits in Human Affairs”), these

remains something even more fundamental-the necessity of knowing how to “ talk sense ”of knowing how to use the gift of speech intelligently, of being able

to manipulate the language in our own daily living and in our affairs with others

so as to avoid the blockages, misevaluation, and cross purposes that seem so much a part of the modern world

1.3 The meaning of word

Among the word’s various characteristics, meaning is the most important

Word has two main types of meaning: grammatical meaning and lexical meaning

Grammatical meaning is the meaning recurrent in identical set of different words and it divides words into group with their own grammatical features

For example: The grammatical meaning of “ pen, pencil and room” is

that they are nouns

Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion

For example: When we hear the word “school ,” our concept is realized and the picture or the image of a school occurs to our mind

There are two types of lexical meaning They are direct meaning and indirect meaning

Direct meaning is the meaning that directly denotes something without comparing it or associating it with other things in other words, we do not need a context Direct meaning is also called “literal meaning”

Indirect meaning is the meaning that indirectly denotes something To understand it, we have to compare it or associate with other thing, in other words, we need contexts Indirect meaning is also called “figurative meaning”.

For example: When we hear the word “skirt” we are most likely to think

of a type of clothes That is direct meaning But when we put it in the sentence

“He is always running after the skirt”, we are not talking about a real skirt in

other words, its literal meaning In this context, “skirt” refers to a woman or a

girl that is indirect meaning

Indirect meaning affects the use of figures of speech, that are ways of saying thing without saying them directly such as metaphor, simile, metonymy and so on Figures of speech can be used primarily to attain some specific effect

on the reader, for declarative or purely aesthetic purpose

1.4 Semantic change

The systems of meanings of polysemantic words evolve gradually The older a word is, the better developed is its semantic structure So, what are causes of development of new meanings?

The first group of causes is new meaning can also be developed due to linguistic factors such as the influence of other words, mostly synonyms

For example: The word “deer ”used to be used to denote any kind of

beast, this meaning is influenced by that of a borrowed word “animal” and now

it denotes a certain kind of beast

The second group of causes is historical or extra-linguistic

We have observed evidence that we live in a world of constant changes and motion at all levels Different kinds of changes in a nation’s social life, its cultures, knowledge, technology, art lead to gaps appearing in the vocabulary which beg to be filled New created objects, new notion and phenomena must

be named; otherwise, our speech will not correspond to the moving, changing world about us

We already know two ways for providing new names for newly created notion: Making new words (word - building):

For example: Air - line, matchbox , postman ,

And borrowing foreign ones:

For example: Animal, crisis, and criterion

One more way of filling such vocabulary gaps is by applying some old words to a new object or notion

For example: The word “mill” originally meant “a building in which corn is ground into flour” When the first textile factories appeared in English,

it was applied to these early industrial enterprises and the new meaning was

“textile factory ”

1.5 The use of word

The fact that a limited number of words must serve to cover an unlimited number of things leads to confusion and misunderstanding There is no such thing as the real sense of a word There is only the sense in which word is used

Even though the English tongue contains many thousands of words and many of these have more than one recognized dictionary meaning yet we are far from having one word for each fact Each word and even each dictionary meaning of each word, must do heavy duty, representing a great number and variety of facts

According to Johnson, a rather large share of our misunderstandings and disagreements arises not so much because we are constitutionally stupid or stubborn, but simply because we have to use the same words to refer to so many different things (People in Quandaries)

For example: Mother says: “ I need some new glasses” Her daughter

buys a dozen water glasses for a present while what mother meant is eyeglasses

Hayakawa in his “ Language in Thought an Action”, says that: “ If we

can get deeply into our consciousness the principle that no word ever has the same meaning twice, we will develop the habit of automatically examining contexts, and this enables us to be aware of the fact that any word may have a whole list of uses, what is being said may not represent what they assumes it does”

Chapter 2 Metonymy in English and Vietnamese

2.1 Definition

Before giving definition of English metonymy and going into specific discussion about it, we will analyze some examples extracted from a literary work and daily spoken language:

1 Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour

England hath need of thee: She is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword and pen

Fireside, the heroic welth of hall and bower

(“London 1802 William Words Worth” )

2 The kettle is boiling.

Reading the first example, the readers can see the beauty of the poetic lines as well as the talent of the author The aesthetic value achieved by a special way of expression especially words such as altar, sword and pen Here,

he poet talks of “altar”, “sword” and “pen” instead of “clergy”, “soldier” and

“ author” By this way he can suggest not only the people but also the function

of those people The device is used basing on the associative relationship existing between “clergy’’ and “altar”, “soldier” and “sword”, “author” and

“pen”, therefore, their names can be transferred to each other.

In the second example, “kettle” is used instead of “water in the kettle”

though in fact, the kettle does not boil This way of speaking is economical and acceptable because in common, use they appear together

Similarly, people have created new ways of speaking in language that have become popular not only in daily spoken language but also in written language This device is called metonymy So what is metonymy?

Many definitions of metonymy are formulated.

According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), “Metonymy is, broadly defined, a trope in which one entity is used to stand for another associated entity A metonymy is, more specially, a replacive relationship that is the basis for a number of conventional metonymic expressions occurring in ordinary language.”

For example: The pen is mightier than the sword.

Pen and sword represent Publishing and Military force, respectively.

According to Ross Murfin and Supryia M Ray (in “The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms ),” “ Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one thing is represented by another that is commonly and often physically associated with it"

For example: A writer’s handwriting is referred to as her or his hand.

As Nguyen Hoa defined (in “An introduction to Semantics”),

“Metonymy is the transference of meaning from one object to another based on contiguity of notions, in other words, instead of the name of one object or notion we use the name of another because these objects are associated and closely related”

For example: Crown is used instead of Monarchy.

All above-mentioned definitions are quite right However, I absolutely agree with the definition of R E Asher and J.M Ysimpson which says that:

“Metonymy is a semantic link between two senses of a lexical item that is based on a relationship of contiguity between referents of the expression in each

For example: He drank the whole bottle.

Here, P is “the whole bottle”, Y is a kind of container (bottle) and X is

thing contained in Y

Metonymy is defined by Nguyen Huu Quynh as “ The transference of name from one thing or phenomenon to another thing or phenomenon basing on associative relation between them” (Tieng Viet hien dai).

Thus, according to Do Huu Chau (in “Tu vung ngu nghia Tieng Viet, “If

we consider A as phonetic form, X and Y are different denotations A is the name of X Metonymy is the way in which we take A to name Y if X and Y often appear together in common situation in fact or we can say X and Y have associative relation”

For example: Hôm nay bác ăn đợc mấy bát?

Here, A is “bát”, X is the denotation of A: “a kind of container that is

used to contain food " Y denotes food contained in it The name A of X “bát”

is used to call Y because in fact container and food often appear together

Basically, English and Vietnamese metonymy is the same and they share some similar features

2.2 Features of metonymy

2.2.1Together with metaphor, metonymy is a popular, familiar figure of

speech in English and Vietnamese Metonymy is widely used especially in everyday language

For example: In English: - I can drink another glass.

- Two Dunhills, please!

In Vietnamese: - Anh Nam dắt xe vào.

- Thêm một đầu lợn nữa.

Glass Glass of beer, water…

Dunhills Cigarettes

Xe Motorbike, bicycle…

Đầu A pig

Metonymy is used in written language

For example: - In literature: In English: - I am not the last boy in the

school I have risen over several heads.

( David Copperfield- Charles Dickens )

In Vietnamese: áo chàm đa buổi phân li

Cầm tay nhau biết nói gì hôm nay

(Tố Hữu)

Heads People

áo chàm People in Viet Bac area

- In newspaper: In English: - Ho Chi Minh City plans to build

underground and elevated roadways

(Vietnam news)

In Vietnamese:- Hoàng Anh-Gia Lai bác bỏ việc hai

cầu thủ của họ bị thẩm vấn do liên quan đến vụ án cá

độ bóng đá mà công an Gia Lai mới phát hiện

(Báo Thể thao hàng ngày)

Ho Chi Minh City The administration of Ho Chi Minh City

Hoàng Anh – Gia Lai The manager of Hoang Anh – Gia Lai team

2.2.2 Like metaphor, metonymy is also the transference of name

However, metonymy works by contiguity rather than similarity

For example: Metaphor: -In English: The foot of the mountain, the mouth of the river,

-In Vietnamese: Chân núi, chân bàn…

Metonymy: -In English: Glass (thing made of glass)

-In Vietnamese: Chai (bottle of wine, beer )

Furthermore, in metonymy, the associative relation between the objects is truth, not depending on human’s subjective perception So, in comparison with metaphor, metonymy is more objective.

2.2.3 The concept of contiguity mentioned in metonymy should not be

understood in a narrow sense as referring to spatial proximity only, but broadly

as a general term for various associations in the spatial, temporal or causal domain

For example:

- Spatial relation: In English: - Chair ( the person presides

over a meeting or a workshop )

In Vietnamese: - Nhà bếp (the cook)

- Functional relation: In English: -To pen

In Vietnamese: Cuốc and cái cuốc, đục and cái đục

2.2.4 The notion of metonymy is used in stylistics and linguistics As a

linguistic term, metonymy refers to the process of semantic change by means of which a given expression comes to be used for a phenomenon that has a relationship of contiguity with it

For example: In English: bureau, canvass, tongue

In Vietnamese: 1 khẩu Maxim, 1 khẩu Mode, 5 Am-pe

In this case, those metonymies have become linguistic phenomenon and have no rhetorical meaning

As a stylistic term, metonymy refers to the use of an existing lexical metonymy with special poetic or rhetorical effect

The main functions of stylistic metonymy are perception and emotional expression It gives an emphasis on outstanding feature of described object

For example: In English:

I wander thro’each chater’d streetNear where the chater’d Thames does flowAnd mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe (London-Thomas Gray)

Briefly speaking, metonymy is very popular in language They are

divided into many types and used with different purposes in different contexts

2.3 Types of metonymy

Basing on property of the relation between entities, we can single out different cases of metonymy

2.3.1 A behavioral-reactions-for-emotion metonymy: Is a metonymy

in which a reference to the behavior of a person experiencing a particular emotion stands for that emotion In English, this type of metonymy is widely used in everyday language We have:

-Behavioral metonymy-for-anger:– Is a metonymy in which a reference to the behavior of a person experiencing anger stands for that emotion

For example:

- She gave him a tongue-lashing.

-She gave me a dirty look.

-The loud music next door has got him climbing the walls.

In above sentences, “tongue-lashing”, “dirty look”, “climbing the walls”

are used to stand for anger They are behavioral reactions that often seen in a person who is getting angry So, people instead of saying, “She was angry with him,” “She was angry with me” “The loud music has got him angry”, use these

special expressions This device is useful because it gives those sentences high expressing-value.

- Behavioral-metonymy-for-pride: Is a metonymy in which a reference

to the behavioral of a person experiencing pride stands for that emotion

For example: We often say as the following when someone is too

proud of himself or herself:

-He is blowing his own horn again.

-He is always singing his own praises.

-She is going around like a peacock.

The phrases describing the behaviors like “blowing his own horn”,

“singing his own praises” “going around like a peacock” are used to

represent pride basing on the fact that this emotion is often accompanied with those reactions Thus, without saying directly all things, it is understandable for the hearers what the speaker means Clearly, the use of figurative language in this case makes the utterances more interesting and picturesque

-Physical-closeness-for-love metonymy: Is a metonymy in which

a reference to nearness and contact is used to stand for love

For example : - I want to hold you in my arms forever.

-I want to be with you all my life.

The desire of doing some actions like “hold you in my arm forever”, or

“be with you all my life” shows much love because the physical nearness and

contact are also language of love

In Vietnamese, we can meet similar way of speaking in which the description of behavior of a person experiencing a particular emotion is used to denote that emotion

For example: -Tnó kh«ng kªu lªn mét tiÕng nµo.Anh trîn m¾t

nh×n th»ng Dôc

For example:

Cói ®Çu Resignation

Quú gèi Humiliating submission

NgÈng ®Çu Indomitable courage

Khoanh tay Submission

This type of metonymy is used not only in daily language but also in literature as a means of describing and creating poetic image

For example: - O du kÝch nhá gi¬ng cao sóng

Th»ng MÜ lªnh khªnh bíc cói ®Çu.

(Tè H÷u)

Obviously, “cói ®Çu” is not only used with its literal meaning: the

description of a physical position By describing it, the writer implies the resignation of the invader Actually, metonymy used in this case is useful for the author to create such a famous poetic image

An other example:

- §i gi÷a hai hµng lÝnhVÉn ung dung mØm cêi Ng¾t mét ®o¸ hoa t¬iChÞ cµi lªn m¸i tãc

§Çu ngÈng cao bÊt khuÊt…

(Tè H÷u)

Similarly, by describing her behavior, the writer emphasizes the bravery and the indomitable courage of the girl.

2.3.2 A-controller-for-controlled metonymy: Is a metonymy in which a

reference to the controller of a controlled entity such as an organization or tool

is used to stand for the controlled entity

For example: In English we often say:

- Napoleon lost at Waterloo.

- A Mercedes rear-ended me.

We do not mean that only Napoleon lost at the fight and the speaker does

not means that he himself was rear-ended by the Mercedes But here, the leader of French Army in Waterloo-is used to stand for the French army

Napoleon-The fact is that the French army lost at Waterloo and “me” stands for the

speaker’s rear-ended car.

In Vietnamese, they also use the name of the controller instead of the controlled entity This way of speaking is used much in science contexts

For example: Năm Tân Dậu (1801) Nguyễn ánh ra đánh Phú

Xuân.Quang Toản ra sức chống đỡ không nổi, Phú Xuân bị chiếm, Quang Toản chạy ra Bắc Hà, đổi niên hiệu là Bảo Hng…

(Các Triều đại phong kiến Việt Nam) Nguyễn ánh, Quang Toản→ The controllers are used to stand for the army they control.

2.3.3 An -institution-for-people-responsible metonymy : Is a

metonymy in which a reference to a whole organization is used to stand for the people who actually make a decision or perform an action

For example: - You will never get the University to agree to that.

- The Army wants to re-institute the draft

(http://sil.org/linguistics/glossar

y oflinguisticterms.htm.)

Or a newspaper writes:

- The bank must obey its customer’s instructions and anyone else.

(The Consumer Society and the Law)

A special way of speaking has been used, in which:

University The headmaster (or members) of the University Army The leader (or members) of the army

Bank The manager (or members) of the bank

These people usually have high position in those institutions and they are

on behalf of all people in those institutions to make decision

We also find this way of speaking in Vietnamese:

For example: -Ngân hàng Trung ơng Philipin thắt chặt chính sách

tiên tệ để quản lí đồng Pê-xô

(Báo Nhân Dân)-Tuyên bố của Chính phủ nớc CHXHCN Việt Nam về việc nhà cầm

quyền Anh, Mĩ phát động chiến tranh Iraq

(Báo Nhân Dân)

Ngân hàng Trung ơng Philipin The manager (and other

members) of the bank

Chính phủ nớc CHXHCN Việt Nam The president (or the other

members) of Vietnam’s government

2.3.4 An object-used-for-user metonymy: Is a metonymy in which a

reference to a tool is used to stand for the user of the tool

For example:-In English, we often say:

-The Saxophone has the flu today.

-The gun he hired wanted fifty grand The Saxophone Person who plays saxophone.

The gun Person who used the gun.

These sentences will sound non-sense if they are understood in direct meaning However, this way of speaking is used popularly in everyday

language and is still understandable and acceptable because the hearer can understand what the sentences imply.

In the same way, tool that is used in a profession is also used to stand for that profession

For example:

- Stage (a place for artistic performance) Acting profession

In Vietnamese this type of metonymy is prevailing They also take the tool that is used mainly in a job to name the job itself

For example:

Tay bóa tay sóng Worker and soldier

Tay cµy tay sóng Farmer and soldier

Tay bót tay sóng Writer and soldier

S©n khÊu Acting profession

C©y vi«l«ng Person who plats the violin

C©y s¸o Person who plays the flute

C©y bót trÎ (Young )writer

2.3.5 A -part-for-whole metonymy: Is a metonymy in which a reference

to a characteristic or an important part of entity is used to stands for the whole entity

For example: In English, we can say: We all live under the same roof.

The roof is a very important part of a house Basing on this relation we

often use “the roof” instead of “the house” This way of speaking is truly

special and imagery It suggests a feeling of warm atmosphere and deep harmony

This type of metonymy is used not only in daily spoken language but also

in written one, especially in literature as a device to create literary image:

For example: Richard Love Lace writes:

True, a new mistress now I chaseThe first foe in the field

And with a stronger faith embrace

A sword, a horse and a shield.

(To Luccasta-Going to the War)

The poet has just written about war without mentioning the word “war”, but the main things that involve the war By saying, “He is embracing a sword,

a horse and a shield” he is using three items to represent all the trappings of

war and in fact to represent the war itself And so, in an indirect way, the war is

mentioned in the poem fully both realistic and lively

Part-for-whole metonymy is widely used especially with part of human body

For example: We often say:

-We do not hire the longhairs

-The giants need a stronger arm in rice field

-We needs some new faces around here.

It is very interesting that object mentioned is whole person but we do not need to use words that refer to the whole person Their important characteristics are used instead:

Longhairs People with longhairs

Strong arm Person with strong arm or person who is strong

New faces new people

In Vietnamese, part-for -whole metonymy is widely used, especially with part of human body

For example: - Có chân trong đội bóng đá

- Một tay cờ xuất sắc

- Đủ mặt anh tài

- Gia đình bảy tám miệng ăn

Chân The person who joins the football teamTay The person who plays chess well

Mặt People who take part in

Miệng Members of the family

In literature, this kind of metonymy is also a means of creating new image and expressing feeling effectively

For example: - Sống trong cát chết vùi trong cát

Những trái tim nh ngọc sáng ngời.

- Những bàn chân từ than bụi lầy bùn

Đã bớc tới dới mặt trời cách mạng

Bàn chân Farmer, worker, hardworking laborers

In “ Truyen Kieu” a very famous work, Nguyen Du also uses a lot of metonymy especially part-for –whole metonymy

For example: -Đầu xanh có tội tình gì

Má hồng đến quá nửa thì cha thôi

(Truyện Kiều)

Đầu xanh People at young ageMá hồng Women who are prostitutes

Part –for-whole metonymy is also used for things

For example: -Trớc sân trồng mấy gốc cau

- Làng nhỏ, chỉ độ vài chục nóc

Gốc The treeNóc The house

2.3.6 A whole-for-part metonymy