METONYMY and SYNECDOCHE
A.
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which
something is called by a new name that is related in meaning to the original
thing or concept. For example, it’s common practice to refer to celebrity life
and culture in the United States as “Hollywood,” as in “Hollywood is obsessed
with this new diet.” The meaning of this statement is not that the place itself
has any obsession, of course, but instead refers to the celebrities and wannabe
celebrities who reside there. Here are more examples of metonymy:
- The big house—Refers to prison
- The pen—Can refer to prison or to the act of writing
- Stuffed shirts—People in positions of authority, especially in a business setting
- The crown—a royal person
- The Yankees/The Red Sox/The Cowboys, etc.—any team name is regularly used as a metonym for the players on the team. This is a less obvious metonym because often the team name is a group of people (the Cowboys, for instance), yet of course the football players who make up the Dallas Cowboys are not, in fact, cowboys.
- The New York Times/Morgan Stanley/Wells Fargo, etc.—any organization or company name is often used to stand in for the people who work there, such as “The New York Times stated that…” or “Wells Fargo has decided….”
We can
use metonymy in our daily life,such as examples:
- England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.)
- The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
- The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
- Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)
B.
Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a literary device in which a part of
something represents the whole or it may use a whole to represent a part. We
often use synecdoche in casual language, and writers often use it to create
realistic dialogue for their characters that sound more natural and realistic.
Synecdoche Forms
There
are several different forms of synecdoche examples including:
- A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole.
- It may use an entire whole thing to represent a part of it.
- It can use a word or phrase as a class that will express less or more than the word or phrase actually means.
- It may use a group of things that refer to a larger group or use a large group to refer to a smaller group.
- A synecdoche may also refer to an object by the material it is made from or refer to the contents in a container by the name of the container.
Here
are some examples:
·
The word
“bread” can be used to represent food in general or money (e.g. he is the breadwinner;
music is my bread and butter).
·
The word
“sails” is often used to refer to a whole ship.
·
The phrase
"hired hands" can be used to refer to workmen.
·
The word
"head" refers to cattle.
·
The word
"wheels" refers to a vehicle.
·
At the
Olympics, you will hear that the United States won a gold medal in an event.
That actually means a team from the United States, not the country as a
whole.
·
If “the world”
is not treating you well, that would not be the entire world but just a part of
it that you've encountered.
·
The word
"society" is often used to refer to high society or the social elite.
·
The word
"police" can be used to represent only one or a few police officers.
·
The
"pentagon" can refer to a few decision-making generals.
·
"Capitol
Hill" refers to both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Differences between metonymy and synecdoche
Synecdoche refers to the
whole of a thing by the name of any one of its parts. For example, calling a
car “wheels” is a synecdoche because a part of a car “wheels” stands for the
whole car. However, in metonymy, the word we use to describe another thing is
closely linked to that particular thing, but is not necessarily a part of it.
For example, “crown” that refers to power or authority is a metonymy used to
replace the word “king” or “queen”.
Thank you
for reading and lets being smart. And never forget to saying alhamdulillah.
References:
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