Title: The Depth of Cognitive Processing of Metonymy within a Cognitive-pragmatic Perspective

Abstract: The depth of metonymic processing is a newly-emerged key issue in cognitive metonymy studies. A multi-level conceptual analysis reveals that metonymy operates within a matrix domain or metonymic complex, which includes four hierarchical levels: image-schema, domain, frame and mental space. On the other hand, as a communicative phenomenon, metonymy is also constrained by intertextuality, rhetorical structure, context and communicators. This research once again indicates that the explanation of metonymy, which is a communicative and cognitive phenomenon, requires insights from both pragmatics and cognitive linguistics.

Keywords: metonymy, depth of metonymic processing, conceptual structure hierarchy, cognitive-pragmatic mechanisms

Author: Zhenqiang Fan, Associate Professor, College of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.