Figurative Senses of Lexical Items Rachel Mozzone

Types of Figurative Language Metonymy Idioms Synecdoche Euphemism Hyperbole Types of Figurative Language

Metonymy: Involving Association Types of Association: Spatial Temporal Logical Representation Responsibility Examples: “The kettle is boiling.” “Obama outlawed my cigarettes.” People, attributes and objects are substituted for what the speaker is actually talking about. Euphemisms are metonyms that are used to avoid unpleasant or offensive language…

Synecdoche: Part-Whole Relationships When part of a category or member of a class is used to represent the whole group.

Idioms SPANISH: “Cada quien tiene su manera de matar pulgas.” (There are 2 ways to skin a cat) “El hijo de la gato, ratones mata.” (Like father like son) “La media narañja” (My other half) “Expressions of at least two words which cannot be understood literally and which function as a unit semantically”. ASL: ???

Translation Options: Like secondary senses, translations are not literal Example: “The kettle is boiling.” Nonfiguratively: making the meaning clear by taking away any figurative sense “The water is boiling.” Adding sense to the word (especially if emotion or impact would be lost otherwise). “The water inside the kettle is boiling.” Substitute an expression of the receptor language for one in the source language. “¿…?”

Euphemisms & Hyperboles Hyperboles Include more than what the speaker literally means; exaggeration is deliberate, for effect. Take care to translate the effect as well as the actual meaning (i.e., you are not really starving). Most often, euphemisms are used to talk about sex, death, and the supernatural. Recognize the importance of the euphemistic expression Translate with appropriate expression in target language (euphemistic if possible) It may be appropriate not to use a euphemism in some languages.

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