How abstract concepts emerge from metaphorical images: The metonymic way

Abstract

Abstract While concrete concepts can be graphically represented within the pictorial mode by showing the referent that they designate, abstract concepts lack concrete referents that can be easily depicted. Nonetheless, in verbo-pictorial metaphors viewers are typically invited to construct comparisons between entities and this process often involves abstract concepts. This paper investigates the role of metonymy in abstract concepts representation within the pictorial mode. By means of qualitative and quantitative analyses we show how various types of metonymy, extracted from existing lists of metonymies identified within the cognitive linguistic literature, can motivate the emergence of abstract concepts in the analysis of verbo-pictorial metaphors. We discuss the results in relation to abstract concepts cognitive grounding, proposing the Abstraction by Metonymy principle.