[lit-ideas] Synecdoche As Conversational Implicature
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 03:17:59 -0400 (EDT)
Helm's Synechdoche
In a message dated 6/16/2013 1:10:01 A.M. UTC-02,
lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
we in the U.S. can’t seriously clash with China because if we did how
would we eat? How would we type these emails (Don’t hold me to literality
these are synecdoche’s J)?
... the radical Islamic force was doomed because Liberal Democracy
out-classed it in every way, and that the Middle East would inevitably succumb
to
Big Macks (another synecdoche J)
Loved them!
From wiki:
"Synecdoche (συνεκδοχή, "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of
speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole
of something, or vice-versa."
Don't you love the 'vice versa'?
And YES, I tend to see ALL synechdoches as implicatures (since Grice
explicitly deals with implicature as a phenomenon 'akin to a figure of
speech').
"Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy (the figure of speech in which a
term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing); indeed,
synecdoche is sometimes considered a subclass of metonymy. It is more
distantly
related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor."
Cfr. metaphtonymy.
"More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche may be considered as sub-species
of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as
Quintilian does in Institutio oratoria Book VIII)."
"In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, the three terms have somewhat
restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of
their etymologies from Greek."
metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly
applicable but analogous to it;
assertion of identity rather than, as with simile, likeness.
metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its
qualities, etc.
"Synecdoche" is derived from the Greek word συνεκδοχή, from the
prepositions συν- + εκ- and the verb δέχομαι (= "I accept"), originally
meaning accepting a part as responsible for the whole, or vice versa.
Synecdoche can be used to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional
character; for example, the X-Files character the Smoking Man. Sonnets and
other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the
beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a coherent whole.
This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the
idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.
A part referring to the whole
Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard"
representing an older man or "the long hair" representing a hippie. This
leads to bahuvrihi compounds.
Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels"
Referring to people by a particular body part.
For example, "head count", "counting noses", or "all hands on deck!"
Referring to a country (or its government) using the name of its capital
city.
Describing a small portable radio as a "transistor" (though that may
simply be an abbreviation for "transistor radio"), or a CRT-based television
receiver as "the tube"
Historical:
The Holy Roman Empire was commonly referred to as Germany, due to the
domination of it by German leaders and that most of it was centred upon
territory considered to be Germany.
The Kingdom of Sardinia in the 19th century was commonly referred to as
Savoy because its ruling house was from Savoy.
Austria-Hungary was commonly referred to as Austria.
The Soviet Union was commonly referred to by its largest and most
well-known member, Russia.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later named Serbia and Montenegro was
commonly referred to by the name of its largest constituent republic, Serbia.
Use of the name Great Britain (the geographical name of the main island)
to mean the entire United Kingdom.
Use of Holland, a region of the Netherlands, to refer to the entire
country.
Referring to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system image as a "thin
client".
Using CPU to refer to the enclosure that houses all the core components of
a home desktop computer.
Saying bubbles to refer to Champagne or any other Sparkling Wine
In Wordsworth's "We Are Seven", the speaker says, "Your limbs they are
alive" (l. 34). "Limbs" represent the entire body, so the narrator is trying to
explain to the little girl that she is alive and breathing, unlike her two
dead siblings.[4]
In Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight", the speaker says "…or the redbreast sit
and sing/ Betwixt the tufts of snow…" (l. 67-8). This phrase symbolizes
the coming of spring, as robins are referred to as harbingers of spring.[4]
A general class name used to denote a specific member 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 as long-haul trailers,
etc.)
"He's good people". (Here, the word "people" is used 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 used to refer to a general set of associated
things"John Hancock" for the signature of any person
a genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola,
"Band-Aid" for any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for any product
made of expanded polystyrene.
"bug" for any kind of insect or arachnid, even if it is not a true bug
The material that a thing is (actually, historically, or supposedly) made
of referring to that thing"glasses" for spectacles
"steel" for a sword
"strings" for string instruments The strings come in together on the next
beat.
"brass" for brass instruments The brass section needs to tune their
instruments.
"ivories" for a piano The maestro sure knows how to tickle the ivories.
"tin" for a container made with tin plating
"willow" for a cricket bat
"pigskin" for an American or Canadian football
"wood" for a type of club used in the sport of golf
"irons" for shackles placed around a prisoner's wrists or ankles to
restrict his movement
"plastic" for a credit card (asking a merchant) Do you take plastic?
"lead" for bullets (e.g. They pumped him full of lead.)
"silver" for tableware, cutlery or other dishes that were once made of
silver metal
"rubber" for a condom
"threads" for clothing Yo, check out my new threads!
"flint" (the sparking bit in a lighter) for ferrocerium (which is not made
of flint)
"lead" for the graphite core of a pencil
A container is used to refer to its contents"barrel" for a barrel of oil
"keg" for a keg of beer
"he drank the cup", to refer to his drinking of the cup's contents
Cheers,
Speranza
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