Metonymy processes and interpretation

a reading in Olhar, by Rubem Fonseca

Abstract

As a matter of thought and communication vehicle, language brings us concepts that, according to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), structure the way we see the world, how we travel in it, in the reality that surrounds us, and how we relate to each other. Therefore, in establishing a dialogue between Linguistics and Literature, this article aims to do an analysis about the metonymic processes that are in the tale Olhar by Rubem Fonseca, interpreting and making possible readings. The work was based on studies by Feltes (2007), Silva (1997) and Martelotta and Palomanes (2008) regarding Cognitive Linguistics, focusing on metonymy with Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and Radden and Kövecses (1999). As a result, we have found that the way we think and our daily experiences are closely related issues not only to metaphor, but especially to metonymy, because it is characterized as a primary process that allows us to define an element by its relation with another. Thus, seen as more than a mere poetic or rhetorical resource, metonymy goes beyond the question of language to be situated in the social, becoming one of the means by which we interact with each other, how we perceive the world and, most importantly, the way we mean in it.