Applying Embodiment to Idiomatic Expressions; A View from Metonymic Grammar (forthcoming online by Peter Lang Publishers)

In this paper I will attempt to propose that image schemas are rooted in metonymy and at a secondary point they extend into metaphoric readings. Idiomatic expressions, and particularly English phrasal verbs will be the area of my investigation. Specifically, it is argued that the image schemas reflected by means of the English phrasal verbs take up, take out, take up and take down license referential metonymies due to particles’ metonymic properties. Given that the particle represents multiple ways according to which the language user conceptualizes the world and, given that the particle reflects sensory-motor experiences, I further assume that in the case of English phrasal verbs the combination of the semantics of the verb along with this of the particle structures certain kind of representations —conveyed through image schemas— according to which the language user embodies the above-named experiences. Moreover, I view that these experiences are conceptualized and expressed through English phrasal verbs in such a way so as to indicate the presence of certain relations of continuity between metonymy and metaphor. As a consequence, the goal of this paper is to support the view that image are metonymic and any extensions into metaphor are subject to metonymy’s reason d’être: from a broader perspective, metonymy prompts for meaning extension.