Synecdoche

This article is about the linguistic term. For other uses,see Synecdoche (disambiguation).

A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/, si-NEK-də-kee; fromGreek συνεκδοχή synekdoche , meaning “simultaneousunderstanding”[1]) is a figure of speech in which a termfor a part of something refers to the whole of something,or vice versa.[2]

A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by meansof either mentioning a part for the whole, or converselythe whole for one of its parts. Examples from everydayEnglish-language idiomatic expressions include “breadand butter” for “livelihood”, “suits” for “businessmen”,“boots” for “soldiers”, etc.[3]

1 Definition

Synecdoche is a rhetorical trope and a type of figurativespeech similar to metonymy—a figure of speech in whicha term that denotes one thing is used to refer to a relatedthing.[4][5] Indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considereda subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related toother figures of speech, such as metaphor.[6]

More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche can be con-sidered sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor asa type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does inInstitutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanham’s Handlist ofRhetorical Terms,[7] the three terms have somewhat re-strictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain inter-pretation of their etymologies from Greek:

• Metaphor: changing a word from its literal mean-ing to one not properly applicable but analogous toit; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile,likeness.

• Metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, propername for one of its qualities, etc.

2 Classification

Synecdoche is often used as a type of personification, byattaching a human aspect to a non-human thing. This isused in reference to political relations, including “havinga footing”, used to mean a country or organization is in aposition to act, or “the wrong hands”, to describe oppos-ing groups, usually in the context of military power.[8]

The two main types of synecdoche are microcosms andmacrocosms. Amicrocosm is when a part of something isused to refer to the entirety.[9] An example of this wouldbe someone saying that they “need a hand” with a project,when they really need the entire person.[10] Amacrocosmis the opposite, when the entire structure of something isused to refer to a small part.[11] An example of this couldbe referring to the world, when the speaker just meansa certain country or part of the world.[12] The figure ofspeech is divided into the image (what the speaker uses torefer to something) and the subject (what is being referredto).This type of reference is quite common in American pol-itics. For example, when an official spokesperson forthe United States Department of Defense makes an an-nouncement, the Department’s headquarters building it-self is credited for it, e.g. "The Pentagon announced newfigures on combat deaths,” while the executivemansion it-self is often credited for statements made by a spokesper-son of the Executive Office of the President of the UnitedStates, e,g, “The White House announced a new plan toreduce hunger.”Sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently usesynecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of indi-vidual body parts rather than a coherent whole. This prac-tice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, wherethe idealised beloved is often described part by part, fromhead to toe.It is also popular in advertising. Since synecdoche usesa part to represent a whole, its use requires the audienceto make associations and “fill in the gaps”, engaging withthe ad by thinking about the product.[13]Moreover, catch-ing the attention of an audience with advertising is oftenreferred to by advertisers as “getting eyeballs”, anothersynecdoche.[14] Synecdoche is very common in spokenEnglish, especially in reference to sports. The names ofcities are used as shorthand for their sports teams to de-scribe events and their outcomes, such as “Denver wonMonday’s game”, when specifically a sports team wasvictorious.[14]

Kenneth Burke (1945) declared that in rhetoric thefour master tropes, or figures of speech, are metaphor,metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Burke’s primary con-cern with these four master tropes is not simply their fig-urative usage, but with their role in the discovery anddescription of the truth.[15] He described synecdoche as“part of the whole, whole for the part, container for thecontained, sign for the thing signified, material for the

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2 3 EXAMPLES

thing made…cause for the effect, effect for the cause,genus for the species, species for the genus”.[16] In ad-dition, Burke suggests that synecdoche patterns can in-clude reversible pairs such as disease-cure.[17] Burke pro-claimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the descrip-tion of microcosm and macrocosm, “since microcosm isrelated to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either thewhole can represent the part or the part can representthe whole”.[17] Burke also compared synecdoche with theconcept of “representation”, especially in the politicalsense, where an elected representatives stand in pars prototo for their electorate.[15]

3 Examples

A part referring to the whole (pars pro toto)

• Referring to people according to a single character-istic: “the gray beard” representing an older man or“the long hair” representing a hippie. This leads tobahuvrihi compounds.

• Describing a complete vehicle as “wheels”, or a mo-torcycle as handlebars

• Referring to people by a particular body part. Forexample, “head count”, “counting noses”, or “allhands on deck!", or “eyeballs” observing adverts.

• Describing a small portable radio as a “transistor”(though that may simply be an abbreviation for“transistor radio”), or a CRT-based television re-ceiver as “the tube”

• Saying bubbles to refer to Champagne or any othersparkling wine

• “Arabian sands” to refer the Arabian deserts.

In Wordsworth's "We Are Seven", the speaker says,“Your limbs they are alive” (l. 34). “Limbs” representthe entire body, so the narrator is trying to explain to thelittle girl that she is alive and breathing, unlike her twodead siblings.[18]

• “Ivories” for a piano, by a complex of synecdoches:the piano designated by the part, its keys, and thekeys are traditionally made of ivory.

A general class name used to denote a specific mem-ber of that or an associated class

• “the good book”, or “The Book” for the Bible(“Bible” itself comes from the Greek for “book”)

• “truck” for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well aslong-haul trailers, etc.)

• “He’s good people”. (Here, the word “people” isused to denote a specific instance of people, i.e.,a person. So the sentence would be interpreted as“He’s a good person”.)

A specific class name that refers to a general set ofassociated things

• "John Hancock" used in the United States, for thesignature of any person

• A genericized trademark, for example "Coke" forany variety of cola (or for any variety of soft drink,as in the southern United States), "Band-Aid" forany variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" forany product made of expanded polystyrene.

The material that a thing is (actually, historically, orsupposedly) made of referring to that thing

• “brass” for brass instruments, or the shell casings ofbullet cartridges.

• “cement” for concrete, cement being just the binderin concrete

• “glasses” for spectacles

• “irons” for shackles placed around a prisoner’s wristsor ankles to restrict their movement

• “iron” for a type of Golf club used in the sport ofgolf

• “lead” for bullets

• “pigskin” for an American or Canadian football

• “plastic” for a credit card

• “silver” for tableware, cutlery, the most valuable ofwhich is made of silver metal

• “steel” for a sword

• “strings” for string instruments

• “threads” for clothing

• “tin” for a container made with tin plating

• “wax” or “vinyl” for a vinyl record (successor to waxphonograph cylinders)

• “willow” for a cricket bat

• “wood” for a type of club used in the sport of golf

A container is used to refer to its contents

• “barrel” for a barrel of oil

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• “keg” for a keg of beer

• “he drank the cup”, to refer to his drinking of thecup’s contents

• “in one’s cups”, a simple expression making use of acomplex of metaphors: under the influence of alco-hol, as described as having drunk a liquid sometimescontained in cups

4 See also

• Antonomasia

• Conceptual metaphor

• Figure of speech

• Hendiadys

• Holonymy

• Hyponymy

• Meronymy

• Faulty generalization (List of fallacies#Faulty gen-eralizations)

• Fallacy of division

• Symbol

• Totum pro parte

• Pars pro toto

• Synecdoche, New York

5 References[1] from the verb ἐκδέχομαι “to take or receive from an-

other” (simplex δέχομαι “to receive”). "συνεκ-δοχή , ἡ,A. understanding one thing with another: hence in Rhet.,synecdoche, an indirect mode of expression, when thewhole is put for a part or vice versa, Quint.Inst. 8.6.19,Aristid.Quint. 2.9, Ps.-Plu.Vit.Hom. 22." Henry GeorgeLiddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revisedand augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones withthe assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford, ClarendonPress, 1940.

[2] Oxford English Dictionary- synecdoche, University ofPennsylvania. N. R. Clifton (1983). The Figure on Film.University of Delaware Press. pp. 173–. ISBN 978-0-87413-189-5. Retrieved 19 May 2013.. Definition ofSynecdoche, St. Edward’s University. Synecdoche - Def-inition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

[3] Examples of Synecdoche from day to day life

[4] Glossary of Rhetorical Terms, University of Kentucky

[5] Jakobson, Roman & Morris Halle (1956). Fundamen-tals of Language. The Hague: Mouton. p. 95. ISBN117871814X.

[6] Figurative Language- language using figures of speech,University of West Georgia

[7] Lanham, Richard A (1991). A Handlist of RhetoricalTerms: A Guide for Students of English Literature, Sec-ond Edition. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: CaliforniaUniversity Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-520-07669-9.

[8] Political Metaphors: http://www.politicalmetaphors.com/tag/synecdoche/

[9] Burke, Kenneth. The Kenyon Review. Vol. 1. Gambier:Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?seq=4>

[10] Enelow, David. “The Four Master Tropes.” Unti-tled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>

[11] Burke, Kenneth. The Kenyon Review. Vol. 1. Gambier:Kenyon College, n.d. 426. New Ser. Vol. 32. Jstor.Ithaka. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332286?seq=4>

[12] Enelow, David. “The Four Master Tropes.” Unti-tled Document. Head-Royce School, n.d. Web. 30Oct. 2014. <http://faculty.headroyce.org/~{}denelow/English%2011/rhetoric/Mastertropes.html>.

[13] Chandler, Daniel, Semiotics: the Basics. Routledge, NewYork, 2007. (132-133): http://books.google.com/books?id=utd_AgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT126&ots=IoMhYPzloj&dq=Barthes%201974%2C%20162%3B&pg=PT126#v=onepage&q=Barthes%201974,%20162;&f=false

[14] Synecdoche: The Art of Getting Eyeballs, Liz Bureman:http://thewritepractice.com/synecdoche/

[15] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. NewYork: Prentice Hall. p. 503.

[16] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. NewYork: Prentice Hall. pp. 507–508.

[17] Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. NewYork: Prentice Hall. p. 508.

[18] Stephen Greenblatt et al. The Norton Anthology of En-glish Literature, volume D, 9th edition (Norton, 2012)

6 Further reading• Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar.Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 683.ISBN 0-674-36250-0.

• Monateri, Pier Giuseppe (1958). La Sineddoche.Formule e regole nel diritto delle obbligazioni e deicontratti. Milano: Giuffré.

4 7 EXTERNAL LINKS

7 External links• Synecdoche from Silva Rhetoricæ: The Forest ofRhetoric

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