一个人的世界

 

Principles governing the selection of the preferred vehicle

 

The choice of vehicle and target in default cases of metonymy appears to be motivated or restrained by cognitive principles. The nature of such principles was pointed out by Langacker (1993: 30) in a very relevant observation on the function of metonymy:

 

Metonymy allows an efficient reconciliation of two conflicting factors: the need to be accurate, i.e., of being sure that the addressee’s attention is directed to the intended target, and our natural inclination to think and talk explicitly about those entities that have the greatest cognitive salience for us.

 

The former factor relates to communicative aspects and will be described here in terms of communicative principles, the latter factor pertains to cognitive aspects and will be described in terms of cognitive principles. We will first look at the cognitive principles governing the selection of the preferred vehicle (Section 4.1) and then briefly examine the issue of communicative principles (Section 4.2). The principles themselves are assumed to have the status of preferential tendencies and will be stated in the form of x over y.

 

4.1  Cognitive principles

 

Some of the cognitive principles of salience that have been identified by Langacker (1993) for reference points[5] and Cooper and Ross (1975) for binomial expressions[6] are also relevant for default metonymies. They relate to three general determinants of conceptual organization, which, however, tend to interact and overlap: human experience, perceptual selectivity, and cultural preference.

 

4.1.1  Human Experience

 

Our basic human experiences are derived from our bodily interaction with people and objects around us and our anthropocentric view of the world. It is reflected in the following principles of relative salience.

     (i) human over non-human: This principle accounts for the default cases of the production, control and possession metonymies, namely (38) producer for product (I’ve got a Ford), (41a) controller for controlled (Schwartzkopf defeated Iraq), and (42a) possessor for possessed (I have a flat tire).

     (ii) subjective over objective: This principle is based on our subjective view of the world and accounts for metonymy (30b) perception for thing perceived, as in What a beautiful sight for ‘thing seen’.

     (iii) concrete over abstract: Our basic human experience relates to concrete physical objects. Body parts make particularly ‘good’ objects, and we routinely access various abstract human domains by reference to our body. We thus speak of having one’s hands on something for ‘controlling something’, holding one’s tongue for ‘stopping speaking’, heart for ‘kindness’, brain for ‘intellect’, a good ear for ‘good hearing’, etc. Since concrete objects are visible, the principle also entails visible over invisible, which is reflected in metonymies such as to save one’s skin for ‘to save one’s life’. Visibility also accounts for the default metonymy (43a) container for contents, since containers are visible but things in the container are, as a rule, not. The concrete over abstract principle also accounts for the metonymies (1) form for concept and (47) words for the concepts they express, where the concrete visual or acoustic shape of a sign stands for its concept.

     (iv) interactional over non-interactional: Entities we interact with form good reference points. We often interact with parts of a whole so that this principle provides a default motivation for part for whole metonymies. For example, the part we interact with most in driving is the steering wheel so that we speak of sitting behind the wheel for ‘driving’. We mainly use our hands in interacting with the world and hence speak of hand-on demonstration, we use our fingers in typing on the computer keyboard and thus speak of having the world at our fingertips when we log into the Internet. Our interaction with things is also closely related to their function.

     (v)   functional over non-functional: As shown by Tversky and Hemenway (1984), we attach particular salience to functional parts such as the engine and the wheels. We therefore speak of a motorway and a 24-wheeler. Parts that have no important function in driving such as the doors, the windshield wipers, or the fenders are, of course, highly unlikely to be selected as metonymic reference points to stand for the car.

 

4.1.2  Perceptual selectivity

 

A number of cognitive principles are relatable to perceptual salience. The foci of perceptual selectivity can be stated in the following principles of cognitive preference.

     (i) immediate over non-immediate: This cognitive principle accounts for selecting stimuli in our spatial, temporal, and causal immediacy. The metonymy in I’ll answer the phone for ‘I’ll answer the person speaking at the other end of the line’ is motivated by spatial immediacy. Metonymies (13) present for habitual, as in I always take the 9 o’clock train, and (14) present for future, as in I am off for ‘I will be off’, are motivated by temporal immediacy. Metonymy (33) emotion for cause of emotion, as in She is my joy for ‘she makes me be happy’, is motivated by the immediacy of the effect. The immediacy principle also accounts for many emotion metonymies in which physiological and behavioral responses produced by emotions are used to stand for the emotions themselves, as in He got cold feet for ‘he became frightened’ (see Kövecses 1990).

     (ii)   occurrent over non-occurrent: This principle reflects our preferential concern with real, factual, and occurrent experiences. It accounts for metonymy (15a) actual for potential in expressions such as He is an angry person or This is a fast car.

     (iii) more over less: This principle accounts for the naturalness of using expressions denoting the upper, but not the lower, end of a scale for the whole scale, as in How tall are you?, where tall refers to any size. In the social and political domains, size is related to power and dominance, which may be seen as metaphorical sizes.

     (iv) dominant over less dominant: This principle explains the metonymic use of the biggest and most powerful country or part of a country for a larger geographical unit as in (9b) England for ‘Great Britain’, Holland for ‘the Netherlands’, and Russia for the former ‘Soviet Union’. This principle probably also accounts for the use of masculine forms in a generic sense, as in mankind, postman or you guys.

     (v) good gestalt over poor gestalt: A powerful perceptual principle is our tendency to perceive gestalts as a whole rather than separate parts. This principle accounts for the wide-spread use of humans and whole objects when in fact an “active-zone” part is meant, as in The car needs washing for ‘body of the car’. An essential requirement of any gestalt is that it has clearly delineated boundaries; hence the gestalt principle relates to the following two principle.

     (vi) bounded over unbounded: The metonymic shift (11a) object for material constituting the object allows us to construe a bounded thing as unbounded, as in We had chicken today. Its reverse metonymy (11b) material constituting an object for the object, as in I sent you an e-mail, is much less productive.

     (vii) specific over generic: Specific instances form better gestalts than unspecific or generic entities. This principle underlies metonymy (17b) specific for generic and its subtypes. At a purely conceptual level, this principle accounts for people’s tendency to generalize. For example, O.J. Simpson’s verdict of ‘not guilty’ was taken by many Americans as a verdict for all black people.

 

4.1.3  Cultural preferences

 

Lakoff’s work on metonymic models has shown that some members of a category are more salient than others with respect to certain dimensions. These dimensions are more or less strongly determined within a given culture.

     (i) stereotypical over non-stereotypical: Stereotypes probably provide the best cases of culture-bound concepts. We already came across the impact of stereotypes on metonymy in connection with categories such as ‘housewife’ and colloquial tautologies as in Boys will be boys.

     (ii) ideal over non-ideal: Ideals are social constructs within a culture and defined with respect to desirability, such as ‘ideal love’ (see Kövecses 1988); others are represented by a paragon like Babe Ruth for ‘ideal baseball players’ (Lakoff 1987). Also, negative categories may have ideal examples that can stand for the whole category, such as Judas, who is a betrayer par excellence in our culture and stands for ‘betrayal’ in general.

     (iii) typical over non-typical: Typical members of a category are often picked out when a category as a whole is described. For example, one may refer to the symptoms of sneezing and coughing in talking about a cold as in You’ve got a bad cough.

     (iv) central over peripheral: The cultural impact of centrality is nicely illustrated in Feyaerts’ (1999) study of the conceptualization of stupidity in German. Expressions such as You are not from here, are you? demonstrate that people who are considered stupid are seen as living on the periphery of one’s culture.

     (v) initial or final over middle: In our conception of events, an initial or final phase may be seen as being more important than the central phase. To pull the trigger for ‘to shoot’ focuses on an event’s initial phase, to sign a contract for ‘to make a contract’ focuses on an event’s final phase. The etymologies of creed and mass provide nice historical illustrations of the two aspects of this principle: creed derives from the first word of the Apostles’ Creed, Credo in unum Deum ‘I believe in one God’, while mass for ‘service’ goes back to a formula said at the end of medieval church services, Ite, missa est (contio) ‘go now, the meeting is dismissed’ (Ullmann 1972: 219).

     (vi) basic over non-basic: This principle applies to simple and well-known ‘ground’ routines as in Lakoff’s (1987: 88f) generators and submodels and in our preference for basic level categories. The use of the basic number hundred in I’ve told you a hundred times for ‘several times’ exemplifies this principle.

     (vii) important over less important: This principle accounts for the use of stage for ‘theater’ as the most important part of the Theater ICM, the expression speaking a language for ‘knowing a language’, or the identification of a capital city with a country.

     (viii) common over less common and

     (ix) rare over less rare: Common members of a category are culturally given reference points and may be used metonymically such as aspirin for any pain-relieving tablet, while rare members stand out because of their uniqueness, as in Lakoff’s (1987) example of a DC-10 crash, which people generalized to the extent that they refused to fly any DC-10.

     It is, without doubt, possible to identify more such cognitive principles, which, however, partly overlap with the ones discussed above. Among these we would probably have to list unexpected over expected, new over old, and traditional over non-traditional.

 

4.2  Communicative principles

 

At least two principles seem to contribute to determining the default selection of a metonymic vehicle: the principle of clarity and the principle of relevance.

 

4.2.1  The principle of clarity

 

The communicative principle that ensures maximal ease of accessing the intended target via a metonymic vehicle may be stated in preferential terms as clear over obscure. This principle is, of course, reminiscent of Grice’s (1975) maxim of manner, which, amongst other things, requires the speaker to avoid obscurity. It might be assumed that clarity in communication is best guaranteed by use of literal speech. Instances of metonymy which have a high degree of cognitive motivation, however, do not seem to require any more effort in directing the addressee’s attention toward the intended target. Especially active-zone metonymies are highly motivated by the whole for part metonymy and, hence, are understood clearly and effortlessly. In Langacker’s example The dog bit the cat, we effortlessly supply ‘the dog’s teeth’ as the intended target. Here, the metonymic mode of expression is clearer and more “accurate” than the literal one, *The dog’s teeth bit the cat. In a vague expression such as They spent the night together, however, the addressee cannot clearly access the intended target and so communicative success is not guaranteed.

 

4.2.2  The principle of relevance

 

Sperber and Wilson’s (1995: 158) principle of relevance, according to which “every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance”, also applies to the use and interpretation of metonymy. As a communicative principle of preference, it may be stated as relevant over irrelevant. As a rule, a cognitively salient vehicle is also relevant to the situation at hand. It is only when the principle of relevance is in conflict with one or more of the cognitive principles that its impact comes to the fore. This is the case with in-group talks by nurses about their patients or waitresses about their customers. Thus, the much discussed metonymic example of The ham sandwich is waiting for his check in reference to a customer is well-motivated by the principle of relevance since, to the waitress, the food served provides the best reference point for identifying a customer in the Restaurant ICM.

 

4.3     Competing motivations

 

In light of the previous sections, we can reasonably suggest that the more cognitive principles apply, the greater the cognitive motivation of a metonymy. For example, the metonymy artist for his work, as in We are reading Shakespeare for ‘Shakespeare’s plays’, is motivated by a bundle of cognitive principles: human over non-human, concrete over abstract, and good gestalt over poor gestalt. Most instances of metonymy, however, are not ‘fully’ motivated; rather, we have a continuum of motivation ranging from fully motivated default metonymies to weakly or unmotivated non-default metonymies.

     Consider again Lakoff and Johnson’s example The buses are on strike for ‘the bus-drivers are on strike’. Since passengers interact with the buses and buses are more relevant to them than their drivers, the metonymy is motivated by the cognitive principle interactional over non-interactional and the communicative principle relevant over irrelevant, but it is inconsistent with the cognitive principle human over non-human. The metonymy in I’ll answer the phone is consistent with the principle immediate over non-immediate, but is in conflict with the principle human over non-human. The metonymic expression paper for ‘essay on a subject’ is motivated by the principle concrete over abstract, in particular, visible over invisible, but, since paper is prototypically a mass noun, the principle bounded over bon-bounded is reversed. In all these cases, conflicting motivations decrease the naturalness of the overall motivation of the metonymy.

    

根据非盈利组织EWK（Environmental Working Group）的最新发布结果，如下水果入选12大脏名单（"Dirty Dozen"），即12种杀虫剂污染最为严重蔬果（以污染严重程度排序，排在最前面的最脏）：种杀虫剂污染最为严重蔬果（以污染严重程度排序，排在最前面的最脏）：

peaches（桃子）
apples（苹果）
sweet bell peppers（甜椒）
celery（芹菜）
nectarines（油桃）
strawberries（草莓）
cherries（樱桃）
pears（梨）
grapes (imported)（进口葡萄，这个应是指进口到美国的葡萄）
spinach（菠菜）
lettuce（生菜）
potatoes（土豆）
如下蔬果入选“12大干净”名单（"Cleanest Dozen"），即12种受污染最轻蔬果（按干净程度排序，最前面的最干净）：种受污染最轻蔬果（按干净程度排序，最前面的最干净）：

onions（洋葱）
avocados（牛油果）
sweet corn (frozen)（冷冻甜玉米）
pineapples（菠萝）
mangoes（芒果）
asparagus（芦笋）
sweet peas (frozen)（冷冻青豆）
kiwi fruit（猕猴桃）
bananas（香蕉）
cabbage（圆白菜）
broccoli（西兰花）
papaya（木瓜）
上述列表是EWG这个非盈利组织对比了由美国农业局（U.S. Department of Agriculture）和美国食品药物管理局（U.S. Food and Drug Administration）对农产品所做的将近43000项测试数据后得出的结果。EWG的计算机分析结果表明，消费者可通过避免脏蔬果只选用干净蔬果的方式，减少将近90％的杀虫剂摄入，食用12大脏水果的民众，每天平均摄入15种不同的杀虫剂，而只食用12大干净蔬果的民众，平均每日摄入杀虫剂种类不超过2种。

把家搬到这里来 

《farewell my concubine》--再见了，我的小老婆（这可是《霸王别姬》的英文译名啊。）

《seventeen years》--十七年（故弄玄虚，《回家过年》）

《ashes of time》--时间的灰烬（《东邪西毒》，这个译名意味深长，无论你是东邪还是西毒，武功再高还不是最后都成了时间的灰烬？）

《all men are brothers:blood of the leopard》--四海之内皆兄弟：豹子的血(《水浒传》,《水浒传》有个英文译名就是《四海之内皆兄弟》）

《chinese odyssey 1: pandora'sbox》--中国的奥德赛1：潘多拉宝盒（《大话西游之月光宝盒》）

《chinese odyssey2:cinderella》--灰姑娘（《大话西游之仙履奇缘》）

《dream factory》--梦工厂（《甲方乙方》，够牛的）

《steel meets fire》--钢遇上了火（《烈火金刚》）

《third sister liu》--第三个姐姐刘（《刘三姐》）

《in the mood for love》--在爱的情绪中（《花样年华》）

《woman-demon-human》--女人-恶魔-人类（《人鬼情》）

《from beijing with love》--从北京带着爱（到香港换不了菜，《国产007》）

《flirting scholar》--正在调情的学者（别人看《红楼梦》看到诗，你看到了……？《唐伯虎点秋香》）

《royal tramp》--皇家流浪汉（《鹿鼎记》）

《flowers of shanghai》--上海之花（pg18？《海上花》）

《a better tomorrow》--明天会更好（"玉山白雪飘零，燃烧少年的心..."，《英雄本色》）

《saviour of the soul》--灵魂的救星（《九一神雕侠侣》）

《Romatic of Three Kingdoms》--三个王国的罗曼史（居然是《三国演义》）

历经八百磨难，我的电脑终于弄回来啦，虽然还总是有这样那样的小毛病，但是，它的回家又让我对生活充满了信息--无论是有多么的不顺利，最后一切不还都是回复正常了吗？

有的时候也觉得自己是不是有点太过担心，电脑坏也未必不是一件好事，至少家里省了不少电费倒是真的。虽然其中也有忍不住跑到学校去上网，但是毕竟发现，每天的日子除了坐在电脑旁边，还有很多值得要做的事情，以前浪费了好多好多时间啊

《拉贝日记》


                                 

                           

    60年前，侵华日军制造的南京大屠杀惨案，是日本法西斯在中国所犯严重罪行
之一，是中国现代史上极其惨痛的一页。虽然日本当时当权者和以后当权者中的许
多人竭力否认有这样的惨案，企图隐瞒事实真相，但事实就是事实，不断有身经这
个惨案的人(包括当时的日本军人)提供了揭露惨案真相的材料。最近，江苏人民出
版社和江苏教育出版社共同翻译出版了《拉贝日记》。这是当年在南京的一名德国
友人亲身目击南京大屠杀所作的真实记录。在标志中国开始全面抗战的卢沟桥事变
60周年的时候，这部被长期尘封而又具有重要价值的历史资料首次出版面世，是很
有意义的一件事。

    这本书的作者约翰·拉贝(John H. D. Rabe)于1882年出生于德国汉堡。1908年
到中国，不久作为德国西门子公司的雇员，在北京、天津、南京等地经商。拉贝和
他的家人在中国生活了将近30年，他的子女和外孙女均出生在中国。他们与中国人
民结下了亲密的友谊。他是一个虔诚的基督教徒，对本世纪二三十年代处在内忧外
患中的中国人民抱有深切的同情。1937年日军进攻南京前夕，他和十几位外国传教
士、教授、医生、商人等共同发起建立南京安全区，并担任安全区国际委员会主席。
他和一些国际友人在当时极其危险艰难的战争环境中，四处奔走呼号，奋不顾身地
抗议和尽其所能地阻止侵华日军对中国人民疯狂施暴。他们设立的南京安全区为大
约25万中国平民提供了暂时栖身避难的场所。在他自己的住宅和小花园里，也挤进
了600多名中国难民，受到保护。他还在他的日记和其他文字中记述了侵华日军在南
京犯下的一桩桩令人发指的暴行。他在1938年4月回到德国以后，连续举行报告会，
向德国当局呈送书面报告，继续对日军在南京的罪恶进行揭露。在受到德国警察盖
世太保的讯问和警告之后，他仍然暗暗地细心整理自己的日记和有关资料，将这些
历史记录留给后人。

    《拉贝日记》是近年发现的研究南京大屠杀事件中数量最多、保存得最为完整
的史料。这部日记所记述的，都是拉贝的亲历亲见亲闻，非常具体、细致和真实，
无人能否认其可信度。在写作日记的同时，拉贝还精心保存了80多张现场拍摄的照
片，并对这些照片作了翔实的说明。这些文字对中日交战双方的实际情况和政治是
非作了客观公正的评价。拉贝的祖国在第二次世界大战中是日本的盟国，他本人是
德国纳粹党南京小组的负责人(代理)。这就使他的记述具有别人难以代替的特殊作
用。当然，由于拉贝当时活动的范围主要在南京安全区内，又只是他个人和他周围
人的所见所闻，这部日记不可能对日军南京大屠杀的全过程作出完整的系统的论断
和估计。这是不可以苛求的。尽管如此，《拉贝日记》仍然具有很高的史料价值。
它是对侵华日军制造这一惨绝人震的大屠杀的血泪控诉，是对日本军国主义者犯下
的严重罪行的有力证词。

    法西斯主义是20世纪初期资本主义制度内在矛盾恶性发展的产物。第二次世界
大战是德意日这些法西斯国家挑起来的。战争中种种罕见的野蛮残暴行为，都是这
些国家的法西斯势力所制造的。奥斯威辛集中营和南京大屠杀是其中显著的事例。
这种灭绝人性的法西斯主义，遭到全世界绝大多数国家的政府和人民包括许多具有
资产阶级民主传统的国家由政府和人民的反对。即使是德意日这些国家，也有数量
众多的人是对法西斯不满和反对的。这样就形成最广泛的世界反法西斯统一战线，
凭借这个强大的统一战线的力量最终取得打败德意日法西斯的胜利。拉贝作为一个
德国商人，甚至是一名纳粹党员，也还是以他的正义感和人道主义精神在中国参与
了反对日本法西斯暴行的斗争，对中国人民给予了极其可贵的援助。中国人民永远
不会忘记这位可亲可敬的国际友人。拉贝这部日记的出版和他的这些斗争事迹的传
播，再一次向世人昭示了正义必将战胜邪恶、文明必将战胜野蛮的历史真理。读者
将从这部历史资料中得到许多有益的启发。