词义变化中的转喻模式

II 湖南涉外经济学院本科毕业论文（设计）题目MetonymicalModelinWordMeaningChange词义变化中的转喻模式作者学院外国语学部专业英语学号指导教师ABSTRACTCognitivelinguiststhinkthatmetonymyisnotjustakindofrhetoricdevice,butalsoakindofcognitivemethod.Thenatureofmetonymyisthatasourcedomaincanprovideamentalaccesstothetargetdomainaccordingtothecontiguitybetweentwoconcepts.Thispassage,firstly,introducesmetonymicalcognitiveattributesandmetonymicalclassification.Next,thepassageanalyzesmainfactorswhicheffectwordmeaningchange.Theinternalfactoristheinfluenceofmetonymy,whiletheexternalfactorsincludethedevelopmentofhistory,thedifferenceofsocialclassandthechangeofpeople’sperception.Thenthepassagemainlyprobesmetonymicalmodelinwordmeaningchangemainlyreflectedintothreeaspects,namelymetonymicalmodelinextensionornarrowingofwordmeaning,metonymicalmodelintransferenceofwordmeaningandmetonymicalmodelinelevationanddegradationofwordmeaning.Itfollowsthatmetonymyisoneofinnermechanismofeffectingwordmeaningchange.Keywords:metonymy;cognitivemechanism;word-meaningchangemuchaspossiblewhilelanguageeconomicalprinciplesuggeststhatspeakersconvenientlyconveyinformationasmuchaspossible.Thatistosay,applyingthecognitivesalienceprinciplemeansapplyingthelanguageeconomicalprinciple.Betweenhumansandnon-humans,thewholeandthepart,thespecificandabstract,andvisibleandinvisible,theformerismoresalientthanthelater.Sometonymycanmakelanguageseasilyunderstood.Besidesthemetonymyresearchcanincreasethedeepunderstandingofhumans.Metonymyisanunconsciouslycognitiveprocessandanimportantmeansofenrichinglanguages.Whenonecognitivemethodhasshortcomings,wecanuseanothermethodtosupply.Andmetonymyhasplayedthiskindofroletoaddlexicalgap.What’smore,metonymyprovidesaveryusefulmethodforustomemorizewords.Whenwehavememorizedoneword,wemaymemorizemorerelatedwordsaccordingtometonymy.Forexamplewhenwememorizethewordhead,wemaymemorizetherelatedwordhairorhairstyleetc.Thispassageinterpretstheword-meaningchangefromacognitiveperspectiveofmetonymyanditprovesthatcognitivemetonymytheorycanaccountmuchforword-meaningchange.Thisthesisconsistsofthreechapters;thefirstchapterisaboutwhatmetonymyiswhichincludestraditionalmetonymyconcept,cognitivenatureofmetonymyandclassificationofcognitivemetonymy.Thesecondchapterisabouttheexternalandinternalcausesofword-meaningchange.Thethirdchapterisaboutthemetonymyeffectsonwordmeaningchangeelaboratedfromthreerespects:metonymy’seffectsonword-meaningextensionornarrowing,onword-meaningelevationordegradation,andonword-meaningtransference.

Chapter1WhatIsMetonymyMetonymyisnotjustafigureofspeech;itplacesasignificantroleinhumancognitionasawayofthinking.Inordertoletusknowmoreaboutmetonymytheory,weintroducethischapterandfocusourdiscussionontraditionalmetonymyconcept,metonymynatureandclassification,andmetonymycognitivemechanism.1.1TraditionalMetonymyConceptThewordmetonymywasderivedfromGeekmetonymiawhichmeanschangeofname.InAdvancedLearner’sEnglish-ChineseDictionary,metonymyreferstotheactofreferringtosomethingbythenameofsomethingelsethatiscloselyconnectedwithit.ThetraditionalmetonymyconceptregardsmetonymyasakindofsubstitutionrelationswhichcanbeformalizedasXSTANDFORY.TheearliestmetonymyconceptwasderivedfromthebookRhetoricandExplanation.Itindicatesthatmetonymyisakindofrhetoricaldeviceanditobtainslanguagefromneighboringandcloselylinkedthings.Thenwecanunderstandthewordsnottobenamedthroughtheformoflanguage.Fromthisdefinition,wecanseethatthetraditionalconceptofmetonymyisbasedontheconceptofcontiguity.TheconceptofcontiguityisalsoreflectedinRoudet’sdefinitionofmetonymy,inwhichhepointsoutthatmetonymyiscausedbyanassociationbasedonaconceptualadjacencyandanycontactormetonymychangesofthiscategory.(ZhangHui&SunMingzhi2005:15).Thereareninetypesofcontiguity-relationsinmetonymyaccordingtoF.UngererandH.J.Schmidt:1)artforwhole,2)wholeforpart,3)containerforcontent,4)materialforobject,5)producerforproduct,6)placeforinstitution,7)placeforevent,8)controlledforcontrollerand9)causeforeffect.(Ungerer&Schmid1996:121)However,withthedeepeningofstudyandtheprosperityofcognitivelinguistics,itisfoundthatthenatureofmetonymyisnotjustafigureofspeechbutacognitivetool.Nextwewillintroducecognitivenatureofmetonymy.1.2CognitiveNatureofMetonymyIncognitivedomain,metonymyisacognitivephenomenon,ameansofextendingtheresourcesofalanguage.Metonymyisnotonlythenaturalrelationbetweenexperiencestructureandlanguagestructureofhumanbeings,butalsotheresultsofco-developmentbetweencognitivethinkingandlanguageexpressionofhumans.Whenpeopleobserve,understandandinterpretobjectivethingswhichenterintopeople’smind,theyalwaysreasonandassociateaccordingtotheirownknowledgeandexperience.Thentheypickupapartamongconceptualcategoryfrommindandmapthispartontothingsfromoutsideworldsothatanimagecomesintobeing.Thenatureofmetonymybasedonimage-schemaandcontiguityrelationsusethesalientpartstoactivatethemetonymyobjectandthenusethepartofsalienceandimportancetosubstitutethewholeortheotherpartorusethewholetosubstitutestheparts.Forexample“therearealotofprettyfacesinthestreet”Inthissentence,metonymyinvolvestwocategories:“faces”and“people”.“Faces”isthesourcecategoryand“people”isthetargetcategory.Metonymyinthesentenceistheresultachievedbymappingthesourcecategory“faces”ontothetargetcategory“people”.Thereasonwhyfacescanbecomethesourcecategoryisthatthefaceisimportanttopeople.Itreflectsthesalientprincipleofcognition.Asacognitiveprocess,metonymyisdefinedasthevehiclewhichprovidesmentalaccesstothetargetinthesamedomain.Metonymyinthecognitiveliteratureismodeledasidealizedcognitivemodels(ICMs)byLakoff,conceptualmappingbyRadden&Kovecses,domainhighlightingbyCroft,combinationsofmappingsandhighlightingbyRuizdeMendoza,scenariosbyPanther&Thornburgandmoregenerallyasreference-pointactivationbyLangackerandBarcelona.(HuZhuang-lin,2001:132)Cognitivelinguisticsmainlyadoptthreeviews:experientialview,prominenceviewandattentionalview.Theprominenceviewclaimsthatthechoiceandarrangementofinformationisdecidedbyitssalientdegreeandthisviewmainlydiscussestheapplianceoffigure/groundsegregationtheoryonlanguageresearch.Figurehassomespecialattributessuchasshape,structureandcontinuityandisinfrontofgroundwhilegroundhasuniformbutnotshapeandstructure,anditisbehindfiguresofigureismoresalientthangroundinperception.Thesegregationoffigureandgroundshouldcomplywithprominentprinciple.Whenweobserveacertainobjectaroundus,weoftenregarditasfigurewhileconsideringenvironmentasgroundthatisprominentprinciplewhichisthebaseofmetonymycognitivemechanism.Areferencepointphenomenonisalsobasedontheprominentprinciplewhichcanserveasacognitivemechanismofmetonymy.ThefamouslinguistLangackersaidcognitivelysalientitemscanbedefinedascognitivereferencepoints.(LiuYan-juan2011:45)Thebasicideaisthatcentralhighlyprominentitemsactascognitivereferencepointstoevokeotherlesssalientones.UngererandSchmidalsosaid“onecategorywithinamodelistakingasstandingforanothercategorywithinthesamemodel.(Ungerer&Schimid1996:121)Themainfunctionofametonymicexpression,then,istoactivateonecognitivecategorybyreferringtoanothercategorywithinthesamemodel,andbydoingthat,tohighlightthefirstcategoryorsub-modeltowhichitbelongs”.Takethefollowingthreesentencesasexamples:(1)Man’sjourneyisfromthecradletothegrave.(2)TheKettleisboiling.(3)Weshouldlookuptothegrayhair.Inthefirstsentencetheparticularrelevantaspectofbirthanddeath—cradleandgraveishighlightedbecauseoftheircloserelevance.Inthesecondsentence,thekettleisthecontainerofwater,thekettleishighlightedbecauseinthismodelwaterisrelatedtokettle.Thelastsentence,obviouslythecategory“thegrayhair”isparticularlyappropriatetotheoldperson,becausewhenpeoplegrowold,theirhairwillbecomegray.Wehavediscussedcognitivenatureofmetonymyandknownmetonymyisawayofthinking.Thenhowtoclassifythecognitivemetonymy?1.3ClassificationofCognitiveMetonymyWhenitcomestometonymyclassification,wehavetorefertoRadden&Kovecses.Thetwofamouslinguistsraisedasystematicclassificationmethod.IntheICM,metonymyrelationsbetweenthesourceandtargetdomaininconceptuallevelmayexistinwholeICManditspartsorpartsofanICM.AccordingtotherelationshipbetweenthesourceandtargetdomaininthesamecognitivedomainorinICM,theyproposetwogeneralconceptualconfigurations:1)wholeICManditsparts;2)partsofanICM.HowevernotallrelationshipsinICMaremetonymicalevenifthebothareincontiguityrelations.Onlywhenresourcedomainandtargetdomainhaveconceptualdistinctnessorsalience,canmetonymyprocesscomeintobeing.(HuZhuang-lin,2001:133-135)1)WholeICManditsparts(i)Thingandpart.ThisICMmayleadtothetwometonymicvariants:a.wholethingforapartofthething:Americafor“UnitedSates”b.partofathingforthewholething:Englandfor“GreatBritain(ii)ScaleICM.Forexample:a.wholescaleforupperendofthescale:Henryisspeedingagainfor“Henryisgoingtoofast.”b.upperendofascaleforwholescale:Howoldareyou?for“Whatisyourage?”(iii)ConstitutionICM.Itinvolvesmatter,materialorsubstanceswhichareaseenasconstitutingathing.a.objectformaterialconstitutingtheobject:Ismellrose.b.materialconstitutinganobjectfortheobject:woodfor“forest”(iv)EventICM.Forexample:a.wholeeventsforsubevents:Billsmokedmarijuana.b.subeventsforwholeevent:MaryspeaksSpanish.(v)Cateory-and-MemberICM.Forexample:a.categoryforamemberofthecategory:thepillfor“birthcontrolpill”b.memberofacategoryforthecategory:aspirinfor“anypain-relievingtablet”(vi)Cateory-and-PropertyICM.Forexample:a.categoryfordefiningproperty:jerkfor“stupidity”b.definingpropertyforcategory:blacksfor“blackpeople”(vii)ReductionICM.Forexample:a.partofaformforthewholeform:crudefor“crudeoil”2)PartsofanICM.Forexample:(i)ActionICM.Forexample:a.agentforaction:toauthoranewbookb.actionforagent:speaker,worker,actor.(ii)PerceptionICM.Forexample:a.thingperceivedforperception:Theregoesmykneefor“Theirgoesthepaininmyknee.b.perceptionforthingperceived:sightfor“thingseen”(iii)CausationICM.Forexample:a.causeforeffect:healthcomplexionfor“thegoodsateofhealthbringingabouttheeffectofhealthycomplexion”b.effectforcause:slowroadfor“slowtrafficresultingfromthepoorstateoftheroad.(iv)ProductionICM.Forexample:ductionforproduct:Fordfor“car”ductforinstrument:toturnuptheheatfor“theradiator”(v)ControlICM.Forexample:a.controlledforcontroller:TheMercedeshasarrived.b.controllerforcontrolled:NixonbombedHanoi.(vi)PossessionICM.Forexample:a.possessorforpossessed:Iamparkedthereformybakeb.possessedforpossessor:Thegreatminddead.(vii)ContainmentICM.Forexample:a.containerforcontents:Thebottleissourfor“milk”b.contentsforcontainer:Themilktippedoverfor“themilkcontainertippedover”(viii)LocationICM.Forexample:a.placeforinhabitants:Thewholecountryshowedupfor“thepeople”b.inhabitantsforplace:TheChinesehostedtheOlympicGameof2008for“China”(ix)SignedReferenceICM.Forexample:a.wordsfortheconceptstheyexpress:aself-contradictoryutterance.(x)ModificationICM.Forexample:a.substitutionformfororiginalform:Doyouhaveapen?–Yes,Ihave.Ourtopicisaboutmetonymypatternofwordmeaningchangeandwehavediscussedmetonymytheory,andnextitisnecessaryforustotalkaboutthecausesofwordmeaningchange.Isthereanyrelationshipbetweenmetonymyandsemanticchange?

Chapter2CausesforWord-MeaningChangeLexicalsemanticchangehasalwaysstoodoutasoneofthecentralissuesamonglinguists.Therearegenerallytwomajorfactorsthatcausechangesinwordmeaning.2.1ExternalFactorsAstimegoesby,changeskeeptakingplaceinsocietyandourdailylifeandnewconcept,ideasandnewthingsemergecontinuously.Andallthischangewillcertainlybereflectedinlanguage.Fromthisaspect,wecananalyzethecausesofwordmeaningchangefromthreeexternalfactors:causeofhistory,classandpsychology.(ZhangWei-you2007:152).First,oneofreasonsinwordmeaningchangeishistorical.Thewell-knownsemanticistUllmannnotes,“Languageismoreconservativethancivilization,materialaswellasmoral.Objects,institutions,ideas,scientificconceptschangeincourseoftime;yetinmanycasesthenameisretainedandthushelpstoensureasenseoftraditionandcontinuity”(ZhangWeiyou2007:153)Indeed,itoftenhappensthatthespellofawordisretainedthoughthemeaninghaschangedsincethereferenthaschanged.Forexample,“straw”originallyreferredto“wheatstraw”butnowthemeaningofstrawhaschangedbecausenowmostofthestrawismadeofpaperorplasticalthoughthewordisnotchanged.What’smore,“increasedscientificknowledgeanddiscoveryisalsoanimportantfactorthatunderliesthechangeofwordmeaning”(ZhangWeiyou2007:154).Forinstance,theconceptofatommeans“anyoftheinvisibleparticles”.Nowsciencehasprovedthatatomisnotthesmallestandcanbedividedintoevensmallestparticles,thustheoriginalmeaningofstrawiswrong.Thesecondisclassreason.Languageisjustlikeamirror,itcanreflectallaspectsofoursociety.Becauseofdifferentsocialbackground,educatedlevel,livingconditionsandsoon,thereexistdifferentsocialclasseswhospeakdifferentlanguages.ForexamplethelanguageswhichFergusonusedasexamplesareArabic,ModernGreek,SwissGermanandHaitianCreole.Eachoftheselanguageshastwovarieties:thehighvariety(H)andthelowvariety(L).Thetwovarietieshaveovertrecognitioninthecommunityandhavecommonlyknownandusedlabels:HighLowSwissGermanHochdeutschSchweizerdeutschArabicclassicalcolloquialGreekKatharevousaDhimotikiHaitianFrenchCreole(DaiWeidong2010:123)Thethirdispsychologicalreason.Peoplesometimeschangethemeaningofwordsduetotheirvariouspsychologicalfactors,whichmaybeshownintabooandeuphemism.Takedeathasanexample,becausedeathisoneofthegreattaboosinourculture,whensomebodydiedpeopledonotsayhediedbutpassedaway.What’smore,peoplesometimeschangewordmeaningaccordingtotheirpsychologicalmotives:love,respect,courtesy,suspicion,pessimism,sarcasm,irony,contempt,hatred,etc.Forexample,withthesocialdevelopment,people’spsychologymaychange,thereforesomewordsmaybecomemorepositiveorfavorablewhicharecalledamelioration,forexample:theoldmeaningofthewordprettyis“tricky,sky,cunning”.Nowitmeans“attractive”.Ifthewordsbecomenegative,wecallthisphenomenonas“pejoration”.Forexample,inthepastthemeaningof“silly”is“happy”and“prosperous”butatpresentitmeans“foolish”.However,theprimarycauseofwordmeaningchangeisnotdecidedbytheexternalfactors,butinternalfactors.Apartfromtheinternalfactorssuchasborrowingandanalogy,isthemetonymyoneofinheritreasonsofwordmeaningchange?2.2InternalFactorsThechangeofwordmeaningmaybecausedbyinternalfactorswithinthelanguagesystem.Atpresentthecognitivelinguisticstudysuggeststhatlanguageisapartofcognitionandcoincideswiththecognitivedevelopmentmodeandrule.Theworldexperienceisreorganizedbypeople,whichwecallcognition.Languageshaveshownthestructureandmechanismofthiskindofreorganization.(ZhaoYanfang&ZhouHong2000:135-136)Howeverasweknowwordsareapartoflanguages,sowordsarealsoapartofcognition.Fromthispointwerealizethatthesemanticchangecomplieswithcognitivepatterns.What’smore,wehavediscussedinthefirstchapterthatmetonymyisoneofcognitivetools.Thenwemayconcludethatmetonymyisoneoftheinternalfactorsofsemanticchange.Langackerarguesthatmetonymyisbasicallyareferencepointphenomenon.Theentitythatisnormallydesignatedbyametonymicexpressionservesasareferencepointaffordingmentalaccesstothedesiredtarget(i.e.theentityactuallybeingreferredto),anddirectingtheaddressee’sattentiontoit.Amongthefactorsthatcanmakeanentitysuitabletoserveasmetonymicreferencepointarecertainprinciplesofcognitivesalience(LiuYanjuan2012:46).Let’stake“Head”inChineseasanexample.TherearesomeChinesemeaningsaboutheadsuchas(1)(humans)head;(2)(animals)head;(objects)top;(events)startingorterminalpoint;(3)leaders;(4)(animalsorobjects)quantity;(5)hairorhairstyle.Asweknow“head”isanimportantpartofthingsanditissuitabletoserveasmetonymicreferencepoint.So“head”canrepresentthewholethingsandbecomequantifier.Hairisonthehead,soitisnaturaltouseheadtorefertohairorhairstyle.Ofcoursethesecondandthethirdmeaningof“head”aretheresultsofmetaphormechanism;wedonotillustratethiscognitivephenomenonindetailshere,butwecanfindtheexplanationinMetaphorsWeLiveBy.(Lakoff,G.&M.Johnson1980:130)Let’stake“water”asanotherexample.“TheColumbiaEncyclopediawaterisakindofodorless,tasteless,transparentliquidthatiscolorlessinsmallamountsbutexhibitsabluishtingeinlargequantities.”Theoriginalmeaningof“water”isakindofliquidcomingdownfromtheskyintheformofrainwhichiscolorless,tastelessandtransparent.Thenitcanformrivers,lakesandoceansandbecomesthemaincomponentofalllivingorganisms.Fromthedefinitionofwaterwecanseethatwaterisdefinitelyessentialtohumanbeings.Humancognitivetotheobjectiveworldfollowstheprinciplecentertoedge,fromneartoofar,fromparttowhole.Andtheunderstandingofwaterisnoexception.Waterisapartofnatureandcognitivehighlightofhumanbeings.Thereforeitiseasyforustocombinewaterwithnature.InChineseweuse“ShuiTianYiSe”todescribebeautifulscenery.Andsometimesweusemountainandwatertorefertonaturesuchas“ShanQingShuiXiu”、“ShanShanShuiShui”andsoon.Throughmetonymythemeaningofwaterhasthemeaningofnature.Mancannotlivewithoutwater;inthesamedomainwecancombinethesourcedomain”water“withthetargetdomain--thedietmaintaininglife.Forexample:(6)禄寺排设筵宴，水陆毕陈，笙簧迭奏。陈忱《水浒后传》第四十回；(7)IhadtoliveonbreadandwaterwhenIwasastudent.(ChenHuai&LiaoJin-chao,2010:115)Insentence(6)“water”referstobestdishes.Whileinthesentence(7),waterreferstosimpledishes.Nomatterthebestorsimpledishes,itallreferstodietmaintaininglife.Thusthroughmetonymy,waterhasthesecondmeaningdietmaintaininglife.AlthoughtheexampleswehaveanalyzedmaybenotenoughtoillustratethewholeWords’meaningchange,atleastitcanprovethatmetonymyisoneoftheinternalcausesofsemanticchange.Thenhowthemetonymymechanisminfluencessemanticchange?Inthenextchapterwewillintroducemetonymicalchangeinword-meaning.

Chapter3MetonymicalChangeinWordMeaningInthefirstchapterwehaveanalyzedthemetonymytheory,herewedon’tdiscussagain.NextIwillintroducesometypesofchangeinwordmeaning.Inlexicology,ithasbeenobservedbylinguistsandsemanticiststhatthetransformationsofwordmeaningfollowanumberofpatterns,themajoronesofwhichareextension,narrowing,degradation,elevation,transferenceandeuphemism.(ZhangWeiyou2007:152).Herewewilldiscussthefirstfivetypesforyouandanalyzethemetonymychangeinthem.3.1MetonymicalextensionorNarrowingofWordMeaningExtensionofmeaning,alsoknownasgeneration,isthenamegiventothewideningofmeaningwhichsomewordsundergo.Itisaprocessbywhichawordoriginallyhadaspecializedmeaningthathasnowbecomegeneralizedorhasextendedtocoverabroaderandoftenlessdefiniteconcept.Whilenarrowingofmeaning,alsocalledspecialization,istheoppositeofwideningmeaning.Itisaprocessbywhichawordofwidemeaningacquiresanarrowingorspecializedsense.Inotherwords,awordwhichusedtohaveamoregeneralsensebecomesrestrictedinitsapplicationandconveysaspecialconceptinpresent-dayEnglish(ZhangWeiyou2007:153).Onekindofmetonymicalmechanismistheprincipleofhighlightwhichmeansthatitismoreeasilyforpeople’sattentiontoobserveandmemorythehighlightofthings.And“highlight”oftencausestheextensionandnarrowingofwordmeaning.Thenwearegoingtodiscusstheinfluenceofhighlightontheextensionandnarrowingofwordmeaning.Therearetwokindsofhighlight;1)Thesalienceonpsychologicalperception;2)Theconventionalsalience.(JiangMin2006:67-69)3.1.1Thesalienceonpsychologicalperception1)Thesaliencecausedbythecharacteristicofthoughts.a.Concretenessiseasiertocausesaliencethanabstract;forexample:(1)river:InancientChina,itreferredtotheChangJiangRiverwhilenowadaysitmeansallrivers(extension)(2)deer:Inthepast,itreferredtoallwildanimalswhilenowitmeansananimalwithlonglegsthateatsgrass,leave,etc.Anditcanrunfast(narrowing)Somethingsmaybeabstractinwhole,buteverycomponentofthewholeisspecificandconcrete.Obviouslytheconcretethingsareeasiertoattractpeople’sattentionandbecomesalient.RegardingriverastheChangJiangRiveranddeerasaspecificanimalcanbedirectlyperceivedandmemorized.Thustheyaremoresalient.b.Familiarityiseasiertocausesaliencethanstrangeness.Thetypicalismoresalientthanthecommon;forexample:(3)Shylock:ItoriginallyreferstoacruelmerchantintheMerchantofVenicebutnowitreferstoallcruelmerchants(extension)(4)palace:InthepastofChina,itmeansapalaceinolddynastybutnowitreferstoQingdynastyinBeijing(narrowing)Weregardthetypicalaswhatweoftencareaboutorhaveanimportantpositioninourheart.Usuallyitreferstothemostfamiliarmemberinthegroupwhichisveryeasyforpeopletorecall.ShylockisthetypicalmerchantintheMerchantofVenice.Heisindifferent,cruelandbrutalwhohastheveryhighsalience,soitisreasonabletosubstituteallmerchantsforShylockandthenthemeaningofShylockisenlarged.ThepalaceofBeijingbuiltinQingDynastyislarge-scaleandwell-preserved.Oncementioningthepalaceoftheolddynasty,it’snaturalforpeopletorememberthepalaceofQingDynasty.Foremphasis,itssignificancenarrowedthemeaning.c.Highsalienceforthepartdisplayingtheregionalandnationalcharacteristics;forexample:(5)Liangan:MaybeitmeanstheplaceonbothsidesofriversorstraitsbutinChinaitreferstobothsidesofTaiwanstraits,namelyTaiwanandmainlandofChina(narrowing)Differentnationsandregionshavedifferentcognitivesalienceforthesamethings.Ingeneralthelocalpeoplearemorefamiliarwiththingsthathappenedintheirowncountrysothattheyhaveabetterperceptionthanothers.Asintheexample“Liangan”above,China’slocalcharacteristicsandnationalsituationmakepeoplefocusonbothsidesofTaiwanstraitandthenweChinesenarrowedthemeaningofLiangan.d.Highsaliencefortheparthavinggoodfunction;forexample:(6)wool:InthepastitmeansSheep’swoolbutnowitreferstotherawmaterialfortextile(narrowing)Peoplealwayspayattentiontothepartofthingswhichhasgoodfunctionandplaysanimportantroleintheirlives.Woolcanbeusedtomakeclothesandotherthings,sothewool’sfunctionissalientandthemeaningwasnarrowed.2)Thesaliencecausedbyculturea.Thesalienceforthepartintheorientationofpsychologicalvalue;forexample:(7)disease:Inthepastitmeansdiscomfortbutnowitmeansillness(narrowing)Peopleoftenpursuethegoodthingswhilegettingridofthebad.However,itisunexpectedthatthebadthingsbecomesalient.Sothemeaningofdiseasebecameillness.b.Thesalienceforthethingsinimplicitexpression;forexample:(8)friends:Inthepast,itreferstothepeoplewhohaverelationswithyoubutnowitreferstoboyfriendsorgirlfriends(narrowing)Chinesepeoplearenotwillingtoexpresstheirfeelingsdirectly,especiallyinaffection,andtheymayusemoreimplicitwords,justasreplacingboyfriendsorgirlfriendswithfriends.Thustheimplicitpartbecamesalientandnarrowedthemeaningoffriends.3)ThesaliencecausedbylanguageBecausesomemorphemes’meaningisdifficulttounderstand,peoplemayremovethepartsothattheeasyoneissalient;forexampleinChinese“驵侩”meanstheagentofhorsetradingwhilenowthemeaningisextendedtoallagents.Becausethemeaningofthemorpheme“驵”isdifficultanduncommon,peoplemayforgetitandfinallyitdisappears.Thentherestbecomesalientsothatitextendsthemeaning.3.1.2TheconventionalizedsalienceThetypicalcharactersofsomethingsandeventsarehabituallysubstitutedforthewholethingsandevents,becausethetypicalcharactersarefigureswhicharemoresalientthantheotherpartofthewhole.Thenmetonymycomesintobeing,thiskindofmetonymyis