Incongruity Triggers the Search for a Metonymic Map

Abstract

Metonymy is a linguistic process in which the name of a salient attribute, part, or function of a particular domain is used to refer to another part of the same domain. Because salient character-istics can be used to activate other referents within a semantic domain, (Lakoff 1987, Deane 1991), sometimes these tags can be used metonymically, even in novel instances (e.g., The man scolded the truck at the intersection). Such sentences may depend on an immediate “animacy incongruity effect” between the verb phrase (scolded) and the direct object (truck) to trigger the metonymic construal. In canonically ordered sentences, the incongruity is recognized on the metonym itself, but what happens when the metonym is fronted? This study presents evidence that the incongruity trigger is a central part of metonymic sense resolution, regardless of where it appears in the sentence.