Study On The Cognitive Mechanism Of Conceptual Metonymy In A Tale Of Two Cities

Based on the theory of cognitive metonymy, with A Tale of Two Cities as the data, this thesis is intended to identify the metonymies in the novel and classify different types of metonymy used in the narrative fiction. It analyses the mechanism of metonymies and expounds the significant roles they play in cognition, thinking, meaning extension, and building up of linguistic text in the novel. It is aimed to prove that different kinds of metonymies have different functions. It attempts to prove that metaphorical language and literary language share various features in common, which explains why metonymic language is so pervasively and significantly used in the area of creative writing of critical realism.The study of metonymy has a long history. According to the theory of cognitive linguistics, metonymy is understood as a cognitive process, in which one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another, the target, within the same idealized cognitive model (ICM). Cognitive linguists approach the working mechanism of metonymy from different perspectives and put forward such models as ICM, cognitive reference point, mapping, and highlighting. Metonymy is no longer confined to its referential function; instead, its function in cognition, thinking, meaning extension and building of the text. This thesis makes use of the models from cognitive linguistics to analyze metonymies in A Tale of Two Cities to explore how metonymy plays the roles of cognition, thinking, meaning extension and etc in one of the most important critical realistic novels.After the analysis, we have the following research findings. Firstly, after the analysis of various examples and facts, we are expected to find out the existence of large variety of metonymies in realistic narrative novel and they play important roles in cognition, thinking, meaning extension and etc. in the writing and reading process. Secondly, after the analysis of examples that exist in the novel, we can find that different types of metonymies have different functions. Thirdly, the thesis will investigate the features of literary language and that of metonymic language and find out the former shares many common features with the latter, thus, to expound why metonymic language is so pervasive and significant in the area of critical creative writing, which offers a basis for the hypothesis that metonymic language can shape the style of literary language, which is proposed by Hu Zhuanglin.For the study of this paper, inductive reasoning will be used to fulfill the aim of the study. Inductive research is based on inductive reasoning or thought which transforms specific observations into general theory. Inductive inference begins with facts and builds from them to a general conclusion. It is a research method that the author uses to help make her arguments sound logically clear and valid.So far as the significance of the study is concerned, first of all the findings of the study will shed light on the important roles of metonymies in shaping the writing style of critical realism. Second, the findings will help us understand how metaphorical language as means of cognition enhances the beauty of literary language and it explains why metonymy is so ubiquitous in creative writing. Then, it lends theoretical support to the research of the application of cognitive linguistics in the field of literary criticism.