Lexis: Journal in English Lexicology (Dec 2020)
Metaphtonymies We Die by: the Influence of the Interactions between Metaphor and Metonymy on Semantic Change in X‑phemistic Conceptualisations of Death
Abstract
Metaphor is recognised as a prominent mechanism of lexical semantic change and is a particularly productive tool to create new euphemisms to mention taboo topics (Crespo Fernández [2006]). This paper focuses on death metaphors, and more specifically on the possible influence of the interactions between metaphor and metonymy on the X-phemistic nature (Allan & Burridge [1991], [2006]) of death metaphors and their continuous euphemistic use in the English language. It relies on 122 metaphorical occurrences drawn from 3 different TV series (Six Feet Under, House, M.D., and Grey’s Anatomy), collected following the recommendations of the Pragglejaz group [2007]. A significant amount of death metaphorical occurrences (mostly those using source domains such as journey, loss or rest, for example) tend to be conventionalised and rather euphemistic, which seems to confirm what was indicated or suggested in previous works (see Allan & Burridge [1991], [2006], Bultinck [1998] or Crespo Fernández [2006]). I argue that the interactions between metonymy and metaphor (see Goossens [2002], Geeraerts [2002], Ruiz de Mendoza & Galera-Masegosa [2011], Kövecses [2013]) partly account for the euphemistic nature of those metaphors: because of the pervasiveness of the mind-body dichotomy in Western religions and cultures, death metaphors are often combined to metonymies in which a dead person is either conceptualised as a dead body or as a soul. The former tend to be dysphemistic (as in realizations of the dead body is rotting food metaphors) while the latter tend to be euphemistic (as in realizations of death is a journey metaphors). I also focus on the diachronic dimension of X-phemisms as some occurrences were first attested over 8 centuries ago; I suggest that the euphemism treadmill (which could be defined as the phenomenon of lexical change resulting from the semantic evolution of existing euphemisms) seems to be slower for death metaphors, which tend to be combined to metonymies (such as a person is a soul), than for metaphors used to mention other taboo domains.
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