Metonymy and synedoche

 

 Metonymy and synedoche

 

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which something is called by a new name that is related in meaning to the original thing or concept. For example, it’s common practice to refer to celebrity life and culture in the United States as “Hollywood,” as in “Hollywood is obsessed with this new diet.” The meaning of this statement is not that the place itself has any obsession, of course, but instead refers to the celebrities and wannabe celebrities who reside there.

Common Examples of Metonymy

As noted above, “Hollywood” can act as a metonym for celebrity culture. There are many other place names that act metonymically in the same way, such as “Wall Street” for the financial sector and “Washington” for the United States government. However, there are many more words in common usage that are metonyms. Here are more examples of metonymy:

• The big house—Refers to prison
• The pen—Can refer to prison or to the act of writing
• Stuffed shirts—People in positions of authority, especially in a business setting
• The crown—a royal person
• The Yankees/The Red Sox/The Cowboys, etc.—any team name is regularly used as a metonym for the players on the team. This is a less obvious metonym because often the team name is a group of people (the Cowboys, for instance), yet of course the football players who make up the Dallas Cowboys are not, in fact, cowboys.
• The New York Times/Morgan Stanley/Wells Fargo, etc.—any organization or company name is often used to stand in for the people who work there, such as “The New York Times stated that…” or “Wells Fargo has decided….”

Difference Between Metonymy and Synecdoche

Metonymy and synecdoche are very similar figures of speech, and some consider synecdoche to be a specific type of metonymy. Synecdoche occurs when the name of a part is used to refer to the whole, such as in “There are hungry mouths to feed.” The mouths stand in for the hungry people. The definition of metonymy is more expansive, including concepts that are merely associated in meaning and not necessarily parts of the original thing or concept.

Metonymy is often confused with another figure of speech called synecdoche. They resemble each other but are not the same. Synecdoche refers to a thing by the name of one of its parts. For example, calling a car “a wheel” is a synecdoche. A part of a car i.e. “a wheel” stands for the whole car. In a metonymy, on the other hand, the word we use to describe another thing is closely linked to that particular thing, but is not a part of it. For example, “Crown” which means power or authority is a metonymy.

Metonymy is different from a metaphor. A metaphor draws resemblance between two different things as in “You are sunlight and I moon” – Sun And Moon from Miss Saigon. Sunlight (and moon) and human are two different things without any association but it attempts to describe one thing in terms of another based on a supposed similarity. Metonymy, however, develops relation on the grounds of close associations as in “The White House is concerned about terrorism.” The White House here represents the people who work in it.

Examples of Metonymy in Everyday Life

We use metonymy frequently in our everyday life. For a better understanding, let us observe a few metonymy examples:

• England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.)
• The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
• The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
• Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)

Function of Metonymy

Generally, metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism i.e. it gives more profound meanings to otherwise common ideas and objects. By using metonymy, texts exhibit deeper or hidden meanings and thus drawing readers’ attention.  In addition, the use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness. For instance, “Rifles were guarding the gate” is more concise than “The guards with rifles in their hands were guarding the gate.”
Furthermore, metonymy, like other literary devices, is employed to add a poetic color to words to make them come to life. The simple ordinary things are described in a creative way to insert this “life” factor to the literary works.

Synecdoche

A synecdoche is a type of trope, which is a figure of speech. When used in literature, a synecdoche will add to the visual imagery of the passage and enhance the reader’s experience.    

Synecdoche Forms

There are several different forms of synecdoche examples including:

• A synecdoche may use part of something to represent the entire whole.
• It may use an entire whole thing to represent a part of it.  
• It can use a word or phrase as a class that will express less or more than the word or phrase actually means.  
• It may use a group of things that refer to a larger group or use a large group to refer to a smaller group.  
• A synecdoche may also refer to an object by the material it is made from or refer to the contents in a container by the name of the container.  

Here are examples of each type of synecdoche.

Part to Represent Whole

It is common in our language for part of something to be used to represent the whole.
For example:

• The word “bread” can be used to represent food in general or money (e.g. he is the breadwinner; music is my bread and butter). 
• The word “sails” is often used to refer to a whole ship.
• The phrase "hired hands" can be used to refer to workmen.
• The word "head" refers to cattle.
• The word "wheels" refers to a vehicle.

Whole to Represent a Part

Using the whole to refer to a part is also a common practice in speech today.
For example:

• At the Olympics, you will hear that the United States won a gold medal in an event. That actually means a team from the United States, not the country as a whole.  
• If “the world” is not treating you well, that would not be the entire world but just a part of it that you've encountered.
• The word "society" is often used to refer to high society or the social elite.
• The word "police" can be used to represent only one or a few police officers.
• The "pentagon" can refer to a few decision-making generals.
• "Capitol Hill" refers to both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  

Class as Representing the Whole

A large group or class is sometimes used to represent a portion of it.

• One example of this is referring to the United States as “America” when the “Americas” is actually made up of many countries.
• "Milk" is commonly used to refer to cow's milk when, in reality there are many sources of milk.

Specific Part Representing A Whole

Sometimes a specific thing is used to denote an entire class or group of things.

• Asking someone to put their “John Hancock” on a document refers to anyone putting their signature there.  
• It is fairly common in the United States to refer to any carbonated beverage as “Coke”.
• Facial tissue is often referred to as "Kleenex"

Material Representing an Object

The material used to make something, or that was used in the past, is often used to represent the entire object.
For example:

• Silverware or dishes made of silver may be called “silver” even if they aren't sold silver. 
• The word “plastic” is commonly used to refer to credit cards.
• The word "ivories" is often used to denote piano keys, even though the keys are no longer made of ivory.
• When a golfer plays with their "woods" they are referring to their longest golf clubs.
• The word "lead" is commonly used to refer to bullets.

Container Representing its Contents

Lastly, the name of a container may be used to denote its contents.

• One example is using the word “barrel” for a barrel of oil or beer.
• A "keg" is used to refer to a keg of beer.   

Synecdoche vs Metonymy

It is easy to confuse synecdoche and metonymy because they both use a word or phrase to represent something else. They could also both be considered metaphors because the word or words used are not taken literally.
However:

• A synecdoche uses part for the whole or the whole for a part.
• A metonymy is a substitution where a word or phrase is used in place of another word or phrase. A good example is the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The word “pen” substitutes for written work, and the word “sword” substitutes for violence or warfare.  

So, now you have many examples and can recognize a synecdoche when you see one.

Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-synecdoche.html#YM9r2rplSGOI80E6.99