COMPLEXITIES OF PRAGMATIC EFFECTS IN BLENDED FIGURES:

THE CASE OF METAPHTONYMYHerbert L. Colston, University of Alberta

1st International Symposium on Figurative Thought and LanguageThessaloniki, Greece, April 26, 2014

Leonard: Just because people appreciate comic books doesn't make them weirdos. Stuart's a terrific artist. He went to the Rhode Island School of Design.

Penny: Okay, what about the guy over there in the superhero T-shirt tucked into his sweatpants?

Leonard: Ah, yeah, that's Captain Sweatpants. He doesn't really help the point I'm trying to make.

(Big Bang Theory, 2009)

“Captain Sweatpants”

Blends metaphor, synecdoche and irony (and possibly oxymora), & achieves, among other pragmatic effects, derision.

Irony has known mechanisms for affecting derision such as contrast effects (see Gibbs & Colston, 2012).

What about metaphor/synecdoche alone & derision? a) how do they achieve it?b) what happens when they’re blended?

HOW ARE METAPHORS DERISIVE? (SOME, IN ISOLATION) Borrowing – Association

Sharing – Similarity Enhancement

Blending – Mutual Highlighting

Emergence – Mutual Highlighting Plus X

Simulation – Re-experience

Borrowing - Association:TARGET is SOURCE&source is negative

“Clive Jr. is a fart blossom.” (Russo, 1994) [derived]

Sharing – Similarity Enhancement:TARGET is SOURCE&both are negative

“I was faced with that terrible thing, when somebody shows you their work and everything about it is shit.” (Banksy, 2010)

Blending – Mutual Highlighting:TARGET is SOURCE&mutually revealed negativity

“He’s such a noodle.” (colleague, 1999)

Emergence – Mutual Highlighting Plus X:TARGET is SOURCE&mutually revealed negativity and…

“They’re zipperheads.” (colleague, 1992)

Simulation – Re-Experience:TARGET is SOURCE&source conjures embodied negativity

“Christmas was vomited all over the house.” (student, 2010)

HOW ARE SYNECDOCHES DERISIVE? (SOME, IN ISOLATION)

Diminishment – For Human Targets & Synecdoche

Outing – In-group/Out-group Categorization

Iconic Minimalism – Akin to Asyndeton

Attitude Demonstration – Embellishment Reluctance

Colston & Brooks (2008), Colston (2014):Compared

Direct ReferenceProximal MetonymyNormal SynecdocheUnusual Synecdoche

Colston & Brooks (2008), Colston (2014):Ratings Collected On

Derision (Experiment 1)Humor (Experiment 2)Identification (Experiment 3)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7Less X More X

BLENDS:METAPHOR/METONYMY METAPHOR/SYNECDOCHE Examples (derived from overheard comments):

Synecdoche with Metaphorical Characteristics Metaphor with Synecdochal Characteristics

Metonymy with Metaphorical Characteristics Metaphors with Metonymic Characteristics

Resemblance-Metonymy with Metaphorical Characteristics

Metaphors with Resemblance-Metonymic Characteristics

“We better go, Crewcut told us to leave.”

“That guy is such a crewcut.”

“I have no idea, go ask Encyclopedia over there.”

“That woman is a total encyclopedia.”

“Here comes Weeble.”

“Rob Ford is a weeble.”

Blends & Derision Source Mechanism(s) Becomes Less Clear Enhancement vs. Diminishment, Open Empirical

Question

Blends & Combination Effects Admiration, Persuasion, Ingratiation, etc. Enhancement vs. Diminishment, Also an Open

Empirical Question

CONCLUSIONS

Metaphor achieves derision via fore-fronting negativity from source and/or target domains

Synecdoche & Metonymy achieve derision via schematic diminishment (with human targets)

Blends of Metaphor and Synedoche/Metonymy:

Muddle the individual derision mechanisms,

May achieve enhanced derision,

May achieve figurative density effects (e.g., ingratiation)

With Sincere Gratitude

Recent Collaborators:Elizabeth BrooksRaymond Gibbs, Jr.

Supporters:Chair’s Research Grant, Faculty of Arts, University of

AlbertaFaculty and Staff Professional Opportunities Fund,

University of Wisconsin-ParksideCollege of Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Apprenticeship

Program, University of Wisconsin-ParksideAssociation for Psychological ScienceCambridge University Press

References

Gibbs, R. W., & Colston, H. C. (2012). Using figurative language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Colston, H. C., & Brooks, E. N. (2008, May). Pragmatic effects of metonymy. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.Colston, H. C. (2014). Derision in referencing: Pragmatic effects of synecdoche and metonymy. Manuscript in preparation.Russo, R. (1994). Nobody’s fool. New York: Knopf Doubleday.Cushing, H., D’Cruz, J., & Gay-Rees, J. (Producers), & Banksy (Director). (2010). Exit through the gift shop. United Kingdom: Paranoid Pictures.Lorre, C. (Writer), & Cendrowski, M. (Director). (2009). The Hofstadter Isotope [Television series episode]. In C. Lorre, B. Prady, & S. Molaro (Executive Producers), The Big bang theory, City: CBS Broadcasting Inc.