We explain what metonymy is, its types, why it is a form of metaphor and various examples. Also, other figures of speech.
What is metonymy?
A metonymy is a trope, Figure of speech or Literary figure, in which to name one thing the name of another is used whose meaning is close or close to the original, either due to a relationship of cause and effect, of the part for the whole, of the author for the work, and so on.
Like many other similar figures, metonymy implies a semantic change, something that is already suggested in the origin of the word itself, from the Greek goal, "Beyond" or "change", and onomazein, "to name". Thus, depending on the type of semantic displacement they imply, they can be classified as:
- Effect for his cause: "My wife, my sweet torment”
- Content per container: “It gives me a whiskey”
- Symbol by reference: "I swear by the cross”
- Place by the person: “The palace did not want to negotiate the surrender "
- Part for the whole: “The deceased left four mouths what to feed "
- All for the part: "In U.S There was a shooting"
- Matter for the object: “The police filled it with lead”
- The author for the work: “We are reading to Cervantes”
- The instrument by the artist: “María is first violin in the orchestra "
In many cases, metonymy can be a form of metaphor, very close in its use to the synecdoche. It can be used both in the language formal, literary or stylistic, as in the informal and everyday.
Metonymy and metaphor
You could perfectly say that metonymy is a specific type of metaphor. This is because it proceeds, essentially, in the same way: it produces the substitution of one referent for another, or what is the same, it names a referent by the name of another.
A metaphor is an "intentional error" of language, a way of putting two terms in relation so that their referents become contaminated, come closer, and thus be able to say more than with the ordinary use of language. For example, if I say "The fire from his mouth lighted the way", I will be connecting "fire" and "mouth" in an unusual way, in order to enhance the meaning of what was said.
That is why it can be considered a form a metaphor but, with metonymy, in the substitution the referents are still closely related: "The torch lit the room" is a way of not saying "the light of the torch lit up the room ”.
Examples of metonymy
Some common examples of metonymy are as follows:
- "Did you see the Modigliani at the entrance?" (the author for the work).
- "She has no brain" (the thing for what she does).
- "The White House rejected the Imam's statements" (the place for the people).
- "Lend me your ears" (the part for the whole).
- "Buy me a Coca-cola" (the brand for the product).
- "The barking came down the ladder" (cause for effect).
- "The Chinese cloned a cow" (the whole for the part).
- "I don't have the stomach to see this" (the feeling thing).
- "We were all afternoon listening to Beethoven" (the author for the work).
- "Josefina has the best seasoning in the family" (the thing for the person).
Other figures of speech
In addition to metonymy, there are other figures of speech, such as:
- The hyperbole or exaggeration. In which some feature of something is taken to the extreme to highlight a subjective appreciation: "It was as high as a mountain."
- The synecdoche. Also a type of metaphor, very similar to metonymy, but in its case the substitution of one referent for another occurs under a relation of inclusion, that is, from a broader term to a "smaller" one: "The cat se feed on mice ”. In this case, "the cat" is used to refer to the entire species.
- Alliteration. Which consists of reiterating certain sounds within a prayer or a phrase, in the manner of an internal game: "with the aleve wing of the slight fan", is a famous example of a poem scored by Rubén Darío.
- Humanization or prosopopoeia. Consisting of giving human traits to animals or inanimate objects: "The sun greeted me in the morning."