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The six papers in this special issue of Jezikoslovlje originated as presentations for the thematic session entitled “How Universal are Conceptual Metonymies? A Cross-Linguistic Comparison,” that we organized for the 7th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference held at the University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, July 22-27, 2001. The authors of the contributions that constitute this special issue share the firm conviction that metonymy is a pervasive cognitive phenomenon with considerable impact on language use and language structure. This thesis may, at first sight, seem surprising to readers who think of metonymy as a “garden-variety” figure of speech that since antiquity has been listed in rhetorical handbooks as a stylistic device of minor importance. The kinds of intriguing empirical questions that present themselves with regard to the cross-linguistic study of metonymy include: 1. Are there metonymic principles that are operative in all languages, i.e., are there metonymic universals?2. Is it possible to find a typological classification of the world’s languages in terms of metonymic principles and how would it differ from grammar-based classifications? 3. How do metonymic principles interact with grammatical structure? 4. How do individual languages differ in the exploitation of individual high-level metonymies? While we are not yet close to answering the first and second questions, interesting answers have been given by the contributors of this issue to the third and the fourth questions.
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In this paper we postulate the existence of two high-level metonymies, ACTION FOR PROCESS and ACTION FOR (ASSESSED) RESULT, that we be-lieve correlate respectively with cases of the causative/inchoative alter-nation and the middle construction. In our view, for a full analysis of the semantics of these two kinds of construction, it is necessary to take into account the existence of an underlying action frame with an implicit agent; however, the action is linguistically presented as a non-controlled event. We observe that these two high-level metonymies are also exploited productively in Spanish, although with different realization patterns. The closest Spanish parallel to the English inchoative and middle constructions is the so-called reflex passive, whose grammatical status remains controversial. We agree with Alarcos (1994) and Maldonado (1999) in their claim that the reflex passive does not display the inherent passive features, so that cases of this construction may be equated to other reflexive constructions. In them se is not a clitic but a reflexive pronoun, the subject being coreferential with it. This insight is further substantiated by the fact that the addition of an agentive complement with por (‘by’) often yields fairly infelicitous examples. While in English both kinds of metonymy are instantiated by the reduction of an argument position of the predicate, in Spanish—where the reduction of an argument position is impossible—the goal is expressed separately through the reflexive pronoun se, the true agent is omitted, and the grammatical subject takes over this role.
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In this paper we present lexical data documenting the interaction of metonymy, metaphor, and iconicity in two signed languages, American Sign Language (ASL) and Catalan Sign Language (LSC). The basis of our analysis is the recognition that metonymy, metaphor, and iconicity all represent mappings across domains within a conceptual system. This framework also permits us to incorporate the form of signs, their phonological pole, as a region in conceptual space. The data examined exemplify several basic metonymies such as ACTION FOR INSTRUMENT and PROTOTYPICAL ACTION FOR ACTIVITY. We also examine cases in which gesture plays a role in metonymy. One area in which metonymy is quite extensively used in signed languages is in the creation of name signs. We explore various types of name signs and the metonymies in-volved in each. Finally, we examine two case studies of the complex interaction of metonymy, metaphor, and iconicity: the ASL epithet THINK-HEARING, and the LSC signs expressing the acquisition of ideas as IDEAS ARE LIQUID and knowledge as MIND IS A TORSO. We conclude that the deep interplay of metonymy, metaphor, and iconicity, as well as their cultural contextuality, requires that they be understood as conceptual space mappings.
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The underlying metonymic motivation of language use and structure has been brought to the fore in recent works by Thornburg and Panther (1997), Panther and Thornburg (1999), Radden and Kövecses (1999), Ruiz de Mendoza and Pérez (2001), and Ruiz de Mendoza and Otal (2002) among others, where the authors analyze the grammatical im-port of high-level or generic metonymies. This paper explores the metonymic basis of several expressions of modality in English and Spanish. More specifically, we focus on two types of metonymic mapping: (i) OBLIGATION FOR DESIRE (called NECESSITY FOR MOTIVATION in Thornburg and Panther 1997), which underlies the understanding of expressions like I must go, where the modal verb is used to express an obligation that comes from the speaker; and (ii) POTENTIALITY FOR ACTUALITY, which motivates English expressions such as I can see the Thames from my window (‘I see the Thames from my window’) or I can hear well (‘I hear well’). We have observed that both metonymies are productive in Spanish as well, but their exploitation in this language is subject to certain peculiarities. On the one hand, Spanish is sensitive only to the POTENTIALITY FOR ACTUALITY metonymy in those cases in which a verb carrying a commissive element is involved. On the other hand, regarding the OBLIGATION FOR DESIRE mapping, there is a clear asymmetry between Spanish and English. An example like I must speak to you, please is better rendered into Spanish as Tengo que hablar contigo, por favor (‘I have to speak to you, please’). In this sentence, the Spanish modal expression tener que is only formally equivalent to the English modal have to, but unlike its English counterpart it conveys internal (or self-imposed) obligation. Finally, we note that, in the domain of epistemic modality, meaning shifts from probability to usuality, and we argue for a non-metonymic implicational correlation between these two modality scales both in English and Spanish.
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Since both metonymy and metaphor are, in the framework of cognitive linguistics, taken to be basic and universally attested processes that help shape conceptual structures and linguistic expressions, the tacit assumption has been that most high-level generalizations that have been established for English (or any other language that happened to provide the empirical confirmation of theoretical claims) should largely hold for other languages as well, discounting of course such language-specific factors as the availability of certain lexical items, etc. In other words, one might expect that similar arrays of metonymically motivated constructions will be found to be fairly frequent across languages. However, as Lakoff (1987) warns, it does not follow that various languages must make use of a particular metonymy in the same way, and in the same contexts. What is more, this universalist underpinning of cognitive research into metonymy may, if unwarranted, i.e. if not supported by cross-linguistic evidence (e.g. typological and contrastive), bring with it a danger of oversimplification and of overemphasizing similarities between languages and thus perhaps even preclude us from gaining some further valuable insights into the nature of the phenomenon. In Brdar and Brdar-Szabó (2003), it is shown that Croatian and Hungarian, un-like English, are reluctant to make use of the MANNER FOR ACTIVITY metonymy in the domain of linguistic action. In order to check whether the observed cross-linguistic differences are merely incidental, due per-haps to some idiosyncratic fact of Croatian and Hungarian, the comparison is extended (i) by systematically examining the same general type of metonymy in a number of different, more or less related domains (e.g. cognitive activity, physical activity, etc.), and (ii) by adding data from some other Germanic and Slavic languages. Finding some degree of consistency in the use or non-use of this metonymy across domains and languages should contribute towards formulating the set of constraints at work in this area, as well as towards refining the existing typologies of metonymies.
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In recent years cognitive linguists have shown that many grammatical struc-tures are motivated by metonymic principles. The goal of this article is to demonstrate the role of metonymy in the emergence of proper names and in their frequent grammatical reclassification as common nouns, drawing exam-ples from English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Proper names are of-ten metonymic in origin, i.e., they refer to a circumstance or distinctive aspect closely linked to their referent. The name eventually becomes a rigid designa-tor for its referent(s). The frequent (temporary or permanent) reclassification of proper names as common nouns is also often motivated by metonymy. Two instances of this phenomenon are discussed: names used as paragons (Lakoff 1987) and the phenomenon known as “partitive restrictive modification” of names (Quirk et al. 1985: 290). In both cases, the rules of grammar holding for names appear to be violated: they may occur with (in)definite determiners and plural morphemes. The paragonic use of names arises on the basis of a metonymy in which the paragon stands for a class. If the class, rather than an individual, is highlighted, its members can be counted and specific reference can be made to them. This metonymy operates on the basis of a “deeper” metonymy applied to the individual taken to be the model for the whole class. In partitive restrictive modification the whole stands for one or a set of its aspects or parts leading to the figurative reclassification of the referent as a class of distinct individuals that can be contrasted in the same sentence.
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In this paper we provide evidence that conceptual metonymies are cross-linguistically significant in the coding of verbal aspect. Guillemin-Flescher (1981: Ch. 2), in an important contrastive study of narrative texts, notices that English and French differ quite often as to which phase of an aspectual situation is coded in an utterance. To illustrate, compare sentence (1), taken from François Mauriac’s well-known novel Thérèse Desqueyroux, with its English translation in (2): (1) Le train ralentit, siffle longuement, repart. (2) The train came to a halt, uttered a long whistle, and started to move again. In the French original (1) the process of moving again is coded. In contrast, it is quite striking that the English translator of (1) prefers to verbalize only the incipient phase of this process by means of an ‘inceptive verb construction’—thereby metonymically evoking the process as a whole. We explore the hypothesis that in English, in contrast to French, there is a fairly systematic exploitation of the high-level metonymy SUB-EVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT with the two sub-metonymies INCIPIENT PHASE OF EVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT and ONSET OF EVENT FOR WHOLE EVENT. A corpus search of two different text genres, bilingual transcripts of Canadian parliamentary debates and narrative fiction, reveals that in about 20% of the cases where English has a metonymically interpreted inceptive verb construction, French expresses the equivalent idea directly by means of a single verb form. We relate the findings for the incipient verb construction to the observation that English makes more extended use of the POTENTIALITY FOR ACTUALITY metonymy with perception and mental processing verbs.
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From: Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford University Press), vol. 16, no. 1. January 2005. p. 35-61
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This analysis focuses on the observation of the religious instruction class taught in Sarajevo aimed at gaining insight into an actual status of religious instruction class. In addition, it allows the collection of the information necessary for further streamlining of the class, more successful and better quality teaching as well as for achieving educational goals. This analysis has revealed that during the last ten years there was a significant improvement reflected in: improvement of organization and quality of instruction, definition of the status of the religious instruction class, the presence of adequate professional teaching staff, better students’ passing rate and cooperation between the state authorities and the Islamic Community authorities. Religious instruction curriculum is professionally present in the schools of the Sarajevo Canton. Significant steps have been made in improving teachers’ skills and improving and streamlining the class instruction itself. The teachers apply new methods of active and creative teaching, using different tools as a part of a new approach in presenting the curriculum. This in turn aids in development of the students’ independent knowledge gain as well as their creativity and research. Teachers are being continually educated and trained to improve the quality of the class and to develop themselves professionally. In addition, this also helps to raise an interest for the class among students as well as to make it valued and favored among them. All of this evidence indicates that religious instruction course has become an integral part of our educational system and that its presence today is completely justified.
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This article starts with hypothesis that every culture today is one big space for encountering other people, namely those who do not belong to our religion. Dialogue between the cultures rather than conflict, represents a big task and a challenge for Muslims as well, particularly at the age of technology and globalization which created unimaginable opportunities for encountering but also for getting into the conflict with other cultures. Considering that for the first time today, there are tenths of millions of Muslims across the western hemisphere, the topic of encountering and entering into dialogue with other cultures, is perhaps the most significant topic which the Muslim philosophers, theologians, authors etc., living in the West should deal with. And while in the past there were temples, monasteries, hanikahs, churches and mosques in which other believers or non-believers never set their foot, it is exactly that particular Demiurge of technology that allows us today or at least tempts us to step into the spirituality of other religious cultures, into spiritually of other religious universes. Equally so, it allowed others to step into our spirituality as well. In the article Cultures in Conflict and Dialogue, the author presents us with some reasons, possibilities and goals of the Muslim perspective on the intercultural dialogue.
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Mostar, a city known as one of the most significant cultural centers in Bosnian ayalet (tur. province) during the entire Ottoman period was the place where the first madaris (sing.madrasah) were erected very early on. The special credit for such rapid blossom of the city in the 16th century certainly goes to its waqifs, who lived and worked in the city: Muhamed-bey (Karađoz-bey), Ćejvan-ćehaja, Koski Mehmed-pasha, Nesuh-agha Vučjaković, Derviš-pasha Bajezidagić and others. The main objective of this paper is to offer overall picture of Mostar madrasah of Zaim (owner of Timar- land tenure) Hajji Muhamed-Bey (Karađoz-bay) from 1570. The Madrasah was more referred to in the literature as Karađoz-bey’ Madrasah in Mostar. It was named after its founder distinguished Mostar waqif. The original of the preserved waqfnama for this madrasah written in the first part of Ramadan, 977 AH or February 7 and 16, 1570 is presently kept in the Ghazi Husrev-bey library in Sarajevo. This work also briefly presents data on the curriculum and courses, resident professors, students, library and transcribing work that was much developed in it at that time.
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