This paper studies English phrasal
verbs on the basis of their spatial and temporal aspects that lead to their
conceptualization and expression, and argues that this is a case of metonymy. Metonymy,
as a fundamental cognitive process, is not only embedded, but also entrenched
in the way humans orient and locate themselves and their actions in the world
by grounding them in space and time. In this sense, the referential function of
metonymy, which is embodied in our mental apparatus by encompassing universal
and individual experiences, serves as the mediating point of encoding,
decoding, internalizing, designating, shaping, expressing and producing phrasal
verbs.
In particular, I will
attempt to propose that the metonymic nature of English phrasal verbs could be
analyzed by virtue of spatio-temporal aspects, which are reflected on the verb
and its particles. Either the verb or the particle, or even both may be of
equal dominance. Such a multidimensionality -with regard to space and time- allows
speakers to construct mental relations concerning the actors interacting in an
event, their activity, instruments, tools and affected objects or products. For
instance, if we consider a sentence like they
were in the area last night so they dropped in, but we were not home, we
can understand that the phrasal verb drop
in, stands for the action of making a visit to someone, without making any
special arrangements.
I further support that in
the case of phrasal verbs, the verb-particle combination entails the existence
of a source (the location of the particular event: home), a path (the process of making the action of dropping in, grounded in space and time:
in the area, last night) and a vehicle (the actors interacting in the event: they, we). In this respect,
the syntactic form of phrasal verbs (verb-particle construction) is governed by
their semantic content, which is based on a certain kind of metonymic mapping
that occurs within a single domain and shifts reference from the primary
domain, which is secondary in the literal meaning (Croft 2002). Thus, when the
particle is attached to the verb, an idiomatic expression arises: particles’
metonymic properties shift and extend the normal and prototypical meaning of
the verb into a more idiomatic sense.
Lastly, the paper will
investigate the metonymic readings of phrasal verbs on the ground of image-schemas
representations, which may be explained from the particles’ metonymic properties.
I will try to support the view that phrasal verbs reflect image schemas. In
particular, I regard the verb-particle combinations as governing image schemas
such as container (fill in, move in, take
in, stand out, find out), part-whole relationship (break up, use up, come down with), linkage (get together, meet with),
separation (break down, come apart), front-back orientation (call back, drop back, pay someone back), proximity and
distance (prevail upon, shy away from, get rid of) and up-down orientation (go up, slow down, let down, keep down).
