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Abstract
This chapter focuses on cross-linguistic patterning of metonymies and metonymic-metaphoric chains involved in mapping from the body part ‘head’ onto mental and social activity domains which particularly favor such conceptualizations due to high expressiveness of figurative “embodied” language. It will be demonstrated that certain metonymies are cross-linguistically very common, e.g. HEAD FOR PERSON, HEAD FOR RULER/IMPORTANT PERSON, HEAD FOR REASON/INTELLIGENCE, while others are encountered only in specific cultural settings, e. g. HEAD FOR A KIN, HEAD FOR LANGUAGE. In addition, many conceptualizations are based on a common general schema which is modified in a culture-specific way. In general terms, the findings contribute to research on metonymy and shed light on the interplay of embodiment, cognitive universals and specific cultural models.
Abstract
The chapter focuses on semantic extensions of the Polish ‘eye’ lexeme and its morphological diminutive using corpus and Cognitive Linguistics methodologies. It is demonstrated that each of the two lexemes can be a source domain for mapping onto a number of similar target domains. However, when frequency criteria are taken into account, the overall patterns of extensions are very different for each lexeme. This poses questions about the role of morphology in reducing polysemy of body part terms and lexicalization of certain extended senses towards higher salience and autonomy.