Figurative language and the semantics-pragmatics distinction.PDF

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1、Figurativelanguageandthesemantics-pragmaticsdistinctionAnnaPapafragouDepartmentofLinguisticsUniversityCollegeLondonGowerStreetLondonWC1E6BTTel.:0171-8131669AbstractThispaperaimsatdemonstratingthatthecognitivemechanismsunderlyingcertaintropes(e.g.metaphorormetonymy)mayassumevari

2、abledegreesofconventionalisation,therebygivingrisetoarangeofphenomenaalongeithersideofthesemantics/pragmaticsdistinction.Examiningspecificallycasesofmetonymy,Iproposeapragmaticaccountofcreative,one-offmetonymicexpressionsusingtheframeworkofrelevancetheory;mymainargumentisthatme

3、tonymyisavarietyoftheinterpretiveuseoflanguage.Ifurtherlookatdegreesofconventionalisationthatagivenmetonymymaygothroughuntilitbecomesfullysemanticised,thusbringingaboutsemanticchange.Mydiscussionshouldhavefar-reachingimplicationsforlexicalsemanticsandtherelevance-theoreticdisti

4、nctionbetweendescriptiveandinterpretiveuse.Keywords:figuresofspeech,metonymy,semantics/pragmaticsdistinction,relevance,interpretiveuse,conventionalisation,polysemy1IntroductionItisbynowacommonplaceinthepragmaticandpsycholinguisticliteraturethattheso-called"figuresofspeech"sucha

5、smetaphorormetonymyarenotmerelinguisticdevicesservingornamentalorliterarypurposesbutcorrespondtomental"figures"2groundedincognition(seeLakoff1987,Sperber&Wilson1986/1995,1990,Gibbs1994).Bylocatingthesourceoffigurativenessinhumancognitivemake-uprecentresearchhasdecisivelymovedaw

6、ayfromtheideathatnon-literallanguageconstitutesadeparturefromalinguisticnorm;atthesametimeithasproducedawayofaccountingfortheproductivity,spontaneityandeaseofunderstandingoftropesinavarietyoflanguagesandcultures.Aquestionthatisnotfrequentlyaddressedintheliteratureisthedegreetow

7、hichtheoperationofthe"poeticsofmind"(Gibbs1994)interactswithlinguisticandnon-linguisticknowledge,thatishowitcorrelateswiththesemantics-pragmaticsdistinction.Myaiminthispaperistoshowthatthephenomenaclassifiedundereachofthetropesdonotnecessarilyconstituteanaturalclassbutformrathe

8、racontinuumwhichcross-cutsthesemantics-pragmaticsborde