Metonymic and metaphorical use of proper names in book reviews

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the special use of proper names in book reviews in mass media. The main goal of the article is to analyse the figurative meaning of proper names and identify the contexts in which they are used. Proper names are explored within the framework of cognitive linguistics. Special consideration is given to the role played by metonymy and metaphor in the construction of the figurative meaning of proper names. Proper names have been studied from various aspects in philosophy and linguistics. One of the main issues of linguistic research is the complex structure of the meaning of proper names. In addition to their primary use to refer to the bearer of the name, proper names may acquire a connotative meaning. In book reviews, names of well-known writers are used figuratively to retrieve information associated with the names of original referents about their style of writing. The material consists of proper names collected from British and American newspapers and magazines featuring book reviews. Proper names used in book reviews can be divided into two main groups: writers who belong to the literary canon and popular contemporary writers. It is argued that a few tiers of metonymic models are involved in the construction of the figurative meaning of proper names, followed by the metaphorical transfer which maps a set of properties onto the target domain. Metaphorical and metonymical transfers change the grammatical status of proper names. Such names can be used with articles, can have a plural form and accept different types of restrictive modifiers. Adjectives derived from proper names are used to highlight a particular feature reminiscent of an author's style. The results show that figuratively used proper names evoke properties associated with an author's style of writing. Through metonymic and metaphorical transfers salient properties of the names's referent are extended to other individuals. Names of famous writers that denote a stereotypical bearer of certain properties are used as a model to evaluate books of other writers.