Conceptual Metonymy in Translation: A Corpus-based Study of Translating EYE Metonymy into Arabic

Abstract

Traditionally, metonymy was seen as a trope where simplistically one thing stands for another. This has been the case until recently, when the cognitive import of metonymy has been discovered, viewing metonymy as a conceptual phenomenon; an instrument of processing information. The most agreed upon definition of conceptual metonymy is Radden & Kövecses's (1999) who see metonymy as a cognitive process where one conceptual entity provides mental access to another conceptual entity within the same Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM). This paper attempts a corpus-based study of the conceptual metonymies of EYE in light of Radden and Kövecses's (1999) ICM taxonomy, and their translation into Arabic, using the 10-million-word Arabic-English parallel corpus (AEPC). The analysis provides insights into how conceptual metonymies behave in both languages, filling a knowledge gap in corpus based cognitive translation studies of conceptual metonymy. It also sheds light on translating conceptual metonymy as a problem faced by translators everyday and yet goes unaddressed. The study suggests translation strategies for conceptual metonymy which take into consideration the complex phenomenon of multiple mappings through metonymic chaining and metaphtonymy. The study aims to give guidance to practicing translators as well as translation trainees/trainers.