Conceptual Metonymy and Lexicographic Representation

The book aims to show how the tenets of the cognitive theory of metonymy can benefit the lexicographic representation of metonymic lexemes, so that the semantic connections between basic and derived meanings become more transparent and motivated. The theoretical part proposes an approach to metonymy which is eclectic with respect to the latest theories in cognitive semantics. This perspective is adopted in the empirical part, which reports the findings of an enquiry into the treatment of conventionalised metonyms in the so-called «Big Five» English monolingual learners’ dictionaries. In the analysis, the following issues are dealt with: sense disambiguation and arrangement, defining techniques, and the correlation between grammatical codes and exemplification. Taking the cognitive viewpoint, the book adds to the recent trend in pedagogical lexicography towards a more explicit marking of figurative language.