Metonymy in morphological recategorization

What is it about?

This article examines metonymy within the grammatical domain of morphology, focusing on Spanish denominal verbs ending in -ear derived from body part nouns (e.g., manosear, pestañear). These verbs illustrate morphological recategorization through an affix that is semantically underspecified, serving primarily to mark a categorial shift. They parallel English denominal verbs formed by conversion, as in “I was anxious to get inside and nose around her house,” where the noun nose functions as a verb. The referential domain of body parts reflects fundamental human experience, providing a conceptual basis for verb formation and interpretation. As Kövecses and Radden (1998: 60) argue, the ease of creating and processing such verbs stems from common metonymic patterns. Specifically, verbs like manosear and pestañear instantiate a primary metonymy, where a body part stands for the action it performs: mano (“hand”) for touching, pestaña (“eyelash”) for eyelash movement. Both cases exemplify the broader metonymic schema BODY PART FOR ACTION, with hands and eyelashes functioning as Instrument and Theme, respectively. The analysis draws on dictionary definitions supplemented by corpus data to illustrate authentic usage. Findings suggest that Spanish verbs derived from body part nouns not only reflect cross-linguistic tendencies in the semantic extension of body part terms but also reveal language-internal variation shaped by cultural factors.

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Why is it important?

This study contributes to understanding how metonymy motivates morphological processes and highlights the interplay between cognitive mechanisms and linguistic structure.