Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Washington", as the capital of the United States, can be used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for its government (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 A metaphor is an analogy between two objects or ideas; the analogy is conveyed by the use of a metaphorical word in place of some other word. For example: "Her eyes were glistening jewels".
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,[2] the three terms have somewhat restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of their etymologies from Greek:
- metaphor A metaphor is an analogy between two objects or ideas; the analogy is conveyed by the use of a metaphorical word in place of some other word. For example: "Her eyes were glistening jewels": 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 Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Washington", as the capital of the United States, can be used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for its government: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc.
- synecdoche: substitution of a part for whole, species for genus, etc.
Etymology
The word "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.
Use
The use of synecdoche is a common way to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character A character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr (χαρακτήρ), the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an; for example, a character might be consistently described by a single body part, such as the eyes, which come to represent the character. This is often used when the main character does not know or care about the names of the characters that he is referring to.
Also, sonnets The sonnet is one of several forms of lyric poetry originating in Europe. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a whole, coherent self. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet The Petrarchan sonnet refers to a concept of unattainable love, and was first developed by the Italian humanist and writer, Francesco Petrarca. Conventionally Petrarchan sonnets depicted the lady as a model and inspiration. This phrase is often used in reference to romantic literature, including analysis of Shakespeare, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.
Examples
- A part referring to the whole
- Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard" for an older man or "the long hair" for a hippie The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s, swiftly spreading to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury
- Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels"
- Calling a worker "a pair of hands"
- All "hands" on deck
- Before and during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was commonly referred to by its largest and most well-known member, Russia.
- A whole thing referring to a part of it
- "The city posted a sign," which means that an employee of the local government (but not the geographic location or all of its residents) posted a sign
- "Capitol Hill," when referring to the US Legislature
- A general class name used to denote a specific member of that or an associated class
- "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 John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that "" for the signature of any person
- "bug" for any kind of insect or spider, even if it is not a true bug Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs (cf. bug), comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to around 15 centimetres (5.9 in), and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts
- a genericized trademark A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for or synonymous with a general class of product or service, rather than the specific meaning intended by the trademark's holder. Using a genericized trademark to refer to the general form of what that trademark represents is a form of, for example "Coke Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke . Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was" for any variety of cola Cola is a beverage usually containing caramel color, caffeine and a sweetener such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup or "Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of toiletry paper based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and diapers. The name Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. Often used as a genericized trademark, especially in the United States, "Kleenex" is in fact owned and used as a trademark" for any variety of tissue
- The material that a thing is made of referring to that thing
- "steel" for a sword A sword is a long, edged piece of forged metal, used in many civilizations throughout the world, primarily as a cutting or thrusting weapon and occasionally for clubbing. The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, icelandic sverð Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Modern Dutch zwaard
- "willow" for a cricket bat A cricket bat is used by batsmen in the sport of cricket. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624 or "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football A football is a ball used to play one of the various sports known as football. In the distant past, crude balls such as inflated pigs' bladders were used, but balls are now designed by teams of engineers to exacting specifications. Each code of football uses a different ball, though they all belong to one of two different basic shapes:
- "wood" for a type of club A golf club is used in the sport of golf to hit a golf ball. Each club is composed of a shaft with a lance and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; putters are used mainly on the green to roll the ball into the cup used in the sport of golf Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players , using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of
- "irons" for shackles A shackle, also known as a gyve, is a U-shaped piece of metal secured with a clevis pin or bolt across the opening, or a hinged metal loop secured with a quick-release locking pin mechanism. They are used as a connecting link in all manner of rigging systems, from boats and ships to industrial crane rigging placed around a prisoner's wrists or ankles to restrict their movement
- "plastic" for credit cards A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card grants a line of credit to the consumer from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the
- "lead" for bullets
- "silver" for flatware Cutlery refers to any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in the Western world. It is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery can have the more specific meaning of knives and other cutting instruments. This is probably the original meaning of the word. Since silverware or other dishes that were once made of silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. The metal occurs naturally in its pure, free form (native silver), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and metal
- "rubber" for a condom
- "threads" for clothing A feature of all modern human societies is the wearing of clothing, a category encompassing a wide variety of materials that cover the body. The primary purpose of clothing is functional, as a protection from the elements. Clothes also enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking, by providing a barrier between the skin
- A container is used to refer to its contents
- "barrel" for a barrel of oil
- "keg" for a keg of beer
See also
- Conceptual metaphor In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another, for example, understanding quantity in terms of directionality . A conceptual domain can be any coherent organization of human experience. The regularity with which different languages employ the
- Figure of speech A figure of speech is a use of a word that diverges from its normal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it such as a metaphor, simile, or personification. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as
- Hendiadys Hendiadys is a figure of speech used for emphasis — "The substitution of a conjunction for a subordination". The basic idea is to use two words linked by a conjunction to express a single complex idea
- Holonymy Holonymy is a semantic relation. Holonymy defines the relationship between a term denoting the whole and a term denoting a part of, or a member of, the whole. That is,
- Hyponymy In linguistics, a hyponym is a word or phrase whose semantic field is included within that of another word, its hypernym . In simpler terms, a hyponym shares a type-of relationship with its hypernym. For example, scarlet, vermilion, carmine, and crimson are all hyponyms of red (their hypernym), which is, in turn, a hyponym of colour
- Meronymy Meronymy is a semantic relation used in linguistics. A meronym denotes a constituent part of, or a member of something. That is,
- Faulty generalization Such a generalization proceeds from a premise about a sample to a conclusion about the population (List of fallacies#Faulty generalizations Formal fallacies are arguments that are fallacious due to an error in their form or technical structure. All formal fallacies are specific types of non sequiturs)
- Fallacy of division Since the premises entail a contradiction , at least one of the premises must be false. We may diagnose the problem as located in premise 3, which quite plausibly commits the fallacy of division
- Symbol A symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On maps, crossed sabres may indicate a battlefield. Numerals are symbols for numbers . All language consists of symbols
References
- ^ Synecdoche - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
- ^ Lanham, Richard A (1991). A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms: A Guide for Students of English Literature, Second Edition. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: California University Press. p. 189. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-520-07669-9.
Further reading
- Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 683. ISBN The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, now Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, for the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith and others in 1966 0-674-36250-0.
External links
Categories: Rhetoric Categories: Humanities | Linguistics | Narratology | Debating | Critical thinking | Figures of speech Categories: Rhetorical techniques | Literary terms | Vocabulary | Synecdoche | Tropes by type
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:17:01 GMT+00:00
Real Change News Mine was looking at that as a synecdoche for a bigger loss, and I wanted to pull back the curtain on the vast environmental devastation. ...
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