engleski

Metonymy and proper names from a grammatical perspective

This thesis is based on the assumption that there is a complex and dynamic relationship between grammar and metonymy as a cognitive mechanism. In line with this, the aim of the thesis is to demonstrate that metonymic processes which construct the figurative meaning of proper names interact in a bidirectional way with the grammatical constructions in which such names appear. For the purpose of this thesis, research was conducted, which included a detailed semantic and grammatical analysis of ten different constructions containing figuratively used proper names (the new/next+Np, the+Np+of, negation+Np, a real/regular+Np, possessive+own+Np, pull+article+Np, do+article+Np, go+all+Np, adverb+Np, Np+meets+Np). The results of the research indicate that metonymy plays a crucial role not only in constructing and retrieving the figurative meaning of proper names, but also in determining their grammatical behaviour. Furthermore, they reveal that the constructions in which such names appear influence and contribute to their semantic interpretation. Consequently, the constructions can be divided into three basic groups (nominal, verbal and adjectival), each characterized by a specific type of interaction between metonymy and grammar. In nominal constructions, for instance, proper names tend to behave as generic common nouns and refer to an entire category of people. Verbal constructions, on the other hand, facilitate those metonymic processes which create very specific meanings related to particular aspects of behaviour, while in adjectival constructions names function as scalar adjectives and describe their bearer’s properties. Based on the above results, the principal conclusion is that metonymic processes which create the figurative meaning of proper names determine their grammatical behaviour, cause their reclassification as common nouns or adjectives and enable them to appear in a particular type of constructions, while, on the other hand, the constructions themselves favour the use of certain proper names and influence the ways in which we metonymically retrieve their intended meaning.

metonymy; grammar; proper names; English

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