3. Metonymy as Cognitive Instruments                                         

3.1 The Cognitive View of Metonymy 来.自/751论|文-网www.751com.cn/                                    

Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or notion is called not only by its name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or notion. Metonymy possesses a referential function, which capacitates us to make use of one substance to stand for another. It also serves the function of providing understanding, i.e. cognition.                                                                                    

Metonymy has invariably been considered as conceptual rather than purely linguistic terms, which is totally different from metaphor. The cognitive view of metonymy put forward here makes the following three hypotheses.