Omar Abdullah Al-Haj Eid 1, Mohammed Nour Abu-Gub 2 & Halla Shureteh 3
1Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts, UNRWA University
2University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
3Hashemite University, Jordan
Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2023. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.14
[Article History: Received: 06 January 2023. Revised: 30 July 2023. Accepted: 24 August 2023. Published: 26 August 2023]
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Abstract
This study explores Arabic and English metonymy’s literary, semantic, lexical, and aesthetic aspects. It investigates metonymy as a figure of speech and compares its types and functions in the two languages. The study confirms that metonymy is culture-bound – that is the meanings of metonymies derive from the socio-cultural values of societies and can’t be separated from the contexts in which they occur. The study stresses the significance of considering the relationship between the two entities in addition to the socio-cultural background in the analysis of metonymies. The study also demonstrates how, in English, metonymy overlaps with other figures of speech, above all metaphor and synecdoche. This analytical study contributes to a better understanding of metonymy. It compares the definitions, classifications, functions, and points of similarities and differences in the two languages for all learners of Arabic and English as second or foreign languages.
Keywords: metonymic expressions, trope, literal meaning, nonliteral meaning, culture-bound, society
Citation: Eid, Omar Abdullah Al-Haj, Mohammed Nour Abu-Gub & Halla Shureteh. 2023. A Comparative/Contrastive Study of Arabic and English Metonymic Expressions. Rupkatha Journal 15:3. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v15n3.14
