In this paper an attempt will be made to analyse a number of surnames either directly derived from animal names or variously associated with representatives of the animal world which may be said to embody and provide a variation on the general conceptual metaphor HUMAN BEING IS ANIMAL and/or the ANIMAL NAME FOR PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THAT NAME metonymy. Animal-related surnames represent a fragment of the English lexicon where morphology and (broadly understood) semantics meet and exert mutual infl uence on each other. It seems that in animal-based nomination language users employ such morphological mechanisms as, for example, affi xation or compounding which, in turn, seem to be conceptually motivated by metaphor and metonymy.

This paper employs the Cognitive Linguistics paradigm to argue that flirtation, especially verbal, may be interpreted as a phenomenon resulting from the working of two conceptual mechanisms, namely metaphor and metonymy. As far as the corpus of the present paper is concerned, the analysis is predominantly based on dialogues extracted from the film “Double Indemnity” (1944) directed by Billy Wilder.

The paper deals with figurative lexical resources of English in the conceptual domain of gender. The presentation and analysis are carried out in terms of the most productive cognitive processes of semantic extensions leading to gender senses of particular lexical units. These processes include various kinds of metaphor, e.g. objectification and zoometaphor, and metonymy, as well as a less familiar concept of syntaphor. Of particular importance are the cases of a new kind of metaphor, called “transgender metaphor” and an integration of metonymy with metaphor in the development of a taboo lexeme cunt used to refer to male referents.

The aim of this paper is to analyse various animal-specifi c complex lexical units together with patterns that can be held responsible for their underlying conceptual structure. Many examples of the data investigated in the paper seem to represent compounds as they are traditionally understood in the literature of the subject (see, among others, Bauer 2003; Katamba and Stonham 2006; Lieber and Štekauer 2009; Fàbregas and Scalise 2012; Bauer et al. 2013); however, others do not meet the basic criteria for compoundhood as postulated by, for example, Altakhaineh (2016). In my research I use the term animal-specifi c complex lexical units with reference to all animal-related composite expressions being the result of the working of metaphor-metonymy interaction.

Bierwiaczonek (2013: 201-202) proposed an analysis of the polysemy of the verb see based on propositional metonymic mappings. In Matusz (2020) I supported this claim with a short dictionary analysis. In the present paper, I propose a similar analysis of the polysemy of hear based on propositional metonymy processes. In order to do that a short dictionary analysis is performed to determine the basic non- metonymic meaning of the verb and to distinguish the senses motivated by metonymic mappings. The analysis performed on the basis of three dictionary sources shows that a significant number of senses of hear may plausibly be explained as cases of PART FOR WHOLE propositional metonymic patterns. The metonymic shift may be demonstrated on the basis of State-of-Affairs Scenarios (SASs), as proposed by Panther and Thornburg (1999), due to the fact that within such scenarios the stage of auditory perception constitutes a particularly salient stage (a stage of SAS for SAS). Alternatively, some dictionary samples are ambiguous between the PART FOR WHOLE metonymic interpretation and the metaphoric reading wherein metonymy plays an active role in the emergence of the metaphoric shift. Thus, reference to metonymy-metaphor interaction appears indispensable. In the paper, I propose an analysis of such cases based on Ruiz de Mendoza and Díez Velasco (2002), who consider the role of metonymic domain expansion within the source of the metaphoric mappings.

The object of analysis in the paper is semantic extension of a lexical unit. In order to approach it, the author chooses one of the cognitive linguistics theories – Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987; 1990; 2000a; 2000b; 2008, etc.). Two of the issues of semantic extension are emphasised. First, it is the grounding of semantic extension in the encyclopaedic knowledge shared by the interlocutors and second, the emergence of the schema implied by the relation of extension. The paper begins with an outline of the postulates of Cognitive Grammar, which are subsequently applied to an analysis of the French lexical unit corps [body], whose extended senses are found in the domain of the structure of musical instruments. In the conclusion the author discusses the dimensions of complexity of the process of semantic extension, one of which is a chain of relations based on metonymy and metaphor.

The present contribution focuses on one specifi c fi gurative usage of proper nouns, namely paragon names, currently employed as derogatory or scornful terms in the debate about public affairs in Poland, as exemplifi ed by the sentence Dlatego Kaczyńscy-PL i Trumpy-PL wygrywają wybory1 [That is why Kaczyńskis and Trumps win elections]. The article argues that metonymic approaches advocated by cognitive linguists (Lakoff 1987, Kövecses and Radden 1998, Barcelona 2003, 2004, Brdar and Brdar-Szabó 2007, and Bierwiaczonek (2013, in press) proffer a more felicitous and precise explanation of the motivational processes behind paragonic uses of names than the metaphoric model advanced in Polish onomastic research, represented, among others, by Kosyl (1978), Kaleta (1998), Cieślikowa (2006) and Rutkowski (2007a, 2007b, 2008, 2012, 2017). We provide a detailed discussion of the recent cognitive linguistic literature on paragons, followed by an analysis of two Polish examples of paragonic uses, which serve as illustration of the explanatory power of selected metonymic frameworks presented in the paper.