Synecdoche

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This article is about the linguistic term. For the film, see Synecdoche, New York.

A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/, si-NEK-də-kee; from Greek synekdoche (συνεκδοχή), meaning "simultaneous understanding") is a figure of speech[1][2] in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something, or vice-versa.[3][4] Examples are referring to the World Wide Web as the Internet or workers as hired hands.[5][6]

Similar figures of speech

Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy—a figure of speech in which a term that denotes one thing is used to refer to a related thing.[1] Indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered a subclass of metonymy. It is more distantly related to other figures of speech, such as metaphor.[7]

More rigorously, metonymy and synecdoche can be considered sub-species of metaphor, intending metaphor as a type of conceptual substitution (as Quintilian does in Institutio oratoria Book VIII). In Lanham's Handlist of Rhetorical Terms,[8] the three terms have somewhat restrictive definitions, arguably in tune with a certain interpretation of their etymologies from Greek:

  • metaphor: changing a word from its literal meaning to one not properly applicable but analogous to it; assertion of identity rather than, as with simile, likeness.
  • metonymy: substitution of cause for effect, proper name for one of its qualities, etc.

Etymology

The word "synecdoche" is derived from the Greek word συνεκδοχή = "together-out-accepting", from the prepositions συν- + εκ- and the verb δέχομαι (= "I accept"), originally meaning accepting a part as responsible for the whole, or vice versa.

Use

Synecdoche can be used to emphasize an important aspect of a fictional character;[1] for example, the X-Files character the Smoking Man. Sonnets and other forms of love poetry frequently use synecdoches to characterize the beloved in terms of individual body parts rather than a coherent whole. This practice is especially common in the Petrarchan sonnet, where the idealised beloved is often described part by part, from head to toe.

Kenneth Burke on synecdoche

Kenneth Burke declared that in rhetoric the four master tropes, or figures of speech, are metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Burke's primary concern with these four master tropes is not simply their figurative usage, but with their role in the discovery and description of the truth.[9]

He defined synecdoche as “… part of the whole, whole for the part, container for the contained, sign for the thing signified, material for the thing made…cause for the effect, effect for the cause, genus for the species, species for the genus…".[10] Burke's definition provides examples of relationships of convertibility. In addition, Burke suggests that synecdoche patterns can include reversible pairs such as disease-cure.[11]

Burke proclaimed the noblest synecdoche is found in the description of microcosm and macrocosm, “since microcosm is related to macrocosm as part to the whole, and either the whole can represent the part or the part can represent the whole."[11]

Burke also suggested that the word synecdoche can be substituted for the word representation.[9] For example, Burke presented synecdoche in a political realm. In some forms of government one is elected from a social body to represent the entirety of that specific social body. Therefore, this form of government displays a synecdochic relationship since it includes a form of representation, i.e. a part of the whole.

Examples

A part referring to the whole
  • Referring to people according to a single characteristic: "the gray beard" representing an older man or "the long hair" representing a hippie. This leads to bahuvrihi compounds.
  • Describing a complete vehicle as "wheels", or a motorcycle as handlebars
  • Referring to people by a particular body part. For example, "head count", "counting noses", or "all hands on deck!", or "eyeballs" observing adverts
  • Referring to a country (or its government) using the name of its capital city. Examples: London when referring to the British Government (or the United Kingdom); Beijing, when referring to the Chinese Government (or of China); and the most utilized Washington, when speaking of the United States Government (including the United States Congress or the president)
  • Describing a small portable radio as a "transistor" (though that may simply be an abbreviation for "transistor radio"), or a CRT-based television receiver as "the tube"
  • Historical: The Holy Roman Empire was commonly referred to as Germany, due to the domination of it by German leaders and that most of it was centred upon territory considered Germany. The Kingdom of Sardinia in the 19th century was commonly referred to as Savoy because its ruling house was from Savoy. Austria-Hungary was commonly referred to as Austria. The Soviet Union was commonly referred to by its largest and most well-known member, Russia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later named Serbia and Montenegro was commonly referred to by the name of its largest constituent republic, Serbia. The island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is commonly referred to by its largest island, Trinidad.
  • Historical: Use of the name Livonia (after the minor ethnic group of Livonians) to mean the entire territory of medieval Estonia and Latvia.
  • Use of the name Great Britain (the geographical name of the main island) to mean the entire United Kingdom. This term is criticised for excluding Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the UK, which is not located on the island of Great Britain.
  • Use of Holland, a region of the Netherlands, to refer to the entire country.
  • Referring to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system image as a "thin client".
  • Using CPU to refer to the enclosure that houses all the core components of a home desktop computer.
  • Saying bubbles or bubbly to refer to Champagne or any other sparkling wine
  • "Arabian sands" to refer the Arabian deserts.

In Wordsworth's "We Are Seven", the speaker says, "Your limbs they are alive" (l. 34). "Limbs" represent the entire body, so the narrator is trying to explain to the little girl that she is alive and breathing, unlike her two dead siblings.[12]

In Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight", the speaker says "…or the redbreast sit and sing/ Betwixt the tufts of snow…" (l. 67-8). This phrase symbolizes the coming of spring, as robins are referred to as harbingers of spring.[12]

A general class name used to denote a specific member of that or an associated class
  • "the good book", or "The Book" for the Bible ("Bible" itself comes from the Greek for "book")
  • "truck" for any four-wheel drive vehicle (as well as long-haul trailers, etc.)
  • "He's good people". (Here, the word "people" is used to denote a specific instance of people, i.e., a person. So the sentence would be interpreted as "He's a good person".)
A specific class name that refers to a general set of associated things
  • "John Hancock" used in America, for the signature of any person
  • a genericized trademark, for example "Coke" for any variety of cola, "Band-Aid" for any variety of adhesive bandage, or "Styrofoam" for any product made of expanded polystyrene.
The material that a thing is (actually, historically, or supposedly) made of referring to that thing
  • "brass" for brass instruments The brass section needs to tune their instruments.
  • "cement" for concrete, cement being just the binder in concrete
  • "flint" (the sparking bit in a lighter) for ferrocerium (which is not made of flint)
  • "glasses" for spectacles
  • "irons" for shackles placed around a prisoner's wrists or ankles to restrict his movement
  • "ivories" for a piano The maestro sure knows how to tickle the ivories.
  • "lead" for bullets (e.g., They pumped him full of lead)
  • "lead" for the graphite core of a pencil
  • "pigskin" for an American or Canadian football
  • "plastic" for a credit card (asking a merchant) Do you take plastic?
  • "rubber" for a condom
  • "silver" for tableware, cutlery or other dishes that were once made of silver metal
  • "steel" for a sword
  • "strings" for string instruments The strings come in together on the next beat.
  • "threads" for clothing Yo, check out my new threads!
  • "tin" for a container made with tin plating
  • "wax" for a vinyl record (successor to wax phonograph cylinders)
  • "willow" for a cricket bat
  • "wood" for a type of club used in the sport of golf
A container is used to refer to its contents
  • "barrel" for a barrel of oil
  • "keg" for a keg of beer
  • "he drank the cup", to refer to his drinking of the cup's contents

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Definition of Synecdoche, St. Edward's University
  2. ↑ Synecdoche - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
  3. ↑ Synecdoche Dictionary meaning, Merriam-Webster
  4. ↑ N. R. Clifton (1983). The Figure on Film. University of Delaware Press. pp. 173–. ISBN 978-0-87413-189-5. Retrieved 19 May 2013. 
  5. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary- synecdoche, University of Pennsylvania
  6. ↑ Examples of Synecdoch e from day to day life
  7. ↑ Figurative Language- language using figures of speech, University of West Georgia
  8. ↑ Lanham, Richard A (1991). A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms: A Guide for Students of English Literature, Second Edition. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: California University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0-520-07669-9. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. p. 503. 
  10. ↑ Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. pp. 507–508. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Burke, Kenneth (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. p. 508. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Stephen Greenblatt et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volume D, 9th edition (Norton, 2012)

Further reading

  • Smyth, Herbert Weir (1920). Greek Grammar. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. p. 683. ISBN 0-674-36250-0. 
  • Monateri, Pier Giuseppe (1958). La Sineddoche. Formule e regole nel diritto delle obbligazioni e dei contratti. Milano: Giuffré. 

External links

Look up synecdoche in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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