Pragmatic Analysis of Japanese Synecdoche

何芹

Introduction：Synecdoche， as a special figure of speech， serves as an rhetorical mean to enhance language effect and can reflect the pragmatic characteristics of Japanese. The understanding and deduction of synecdoches meaning is of much concern. Thus， this thesis aims to compare Japanese and Chinese synecdoche， and state its pragmatic function.

I. Definition of Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term that donates one thing is used to refer to a related thing. Rigorously， metonymy and synecdoche are considered as the subspecies of metaphor. Generally， synecdoche divides into microcosm and macrocosm. A microcosm indicates the part is used to refer to the entirety， ‘人はパンのみにて生きるにあらず means people cannot live without any food. A macrocosm means the entire structure indicates the part， ‘花見に行く may refer to ‘さくらを見に行く.

II. Relation between Synecdoche and Metonymy

Synecdoche and metonymy are absolutely two independent entities， and synecdoche should independent from metonymy due to the former reflects the connection between things but the latter represents the relative or opposite relationship between things. Specifically， metonymy focuses on association rather than similarities， while synecdoche stresses affiliation.

III. Analysis

3.1 A class for an Individual

（1） 行者道：“……我去！我去！—去便去了，只是你手下無人。”唐僧發怒道：“這潑猴越發無禮！看起來，只你是人，那悟能、悟凈，就不是人？”

Excerpt from Journey to the West

Obviously， the word "人" has different meanings from the perspective of TangSen and Wukong， which has nothing to do with human being in physical level yet. "人"， probably， includes people on micro level such as women， man， the disabled and so on. As a result， a class for an individual was reflected by the relation between "人" and "people on micro level". In addition， the word "人" that Wukong refers to narrowed the meaning of "人" in general， it means the one with redoubtable Kungfu and extraordinarily strong demons-removal ability herein.

（2） 堅田の浮御堂に辿り著いた時は夕方で、その日一日時折思い出したように舞っていた白いものが、その頃から本調子になって間斷なく濃い密度で空間を埋め始めた。

——井上靖「比良のシャクナゲ」

Actually， there are a large variety of words or phrases occur to readers mind upon seeing the phrase 'しろいもの'， such as powder， white paper and snowflake. Yet the understanding of the phrase must connect with context of situation herein， then what can be know is that the white thing refers to the snow. The use of 'しろいもの' provides reader rich imagination， making discourse more vivid and attractive.

（3） アルコールはたくさん用意した。

（4） 私は洛陽に行って花を見る。

In sentence 3， the word 'アルコール' originally means the chemical substance in alcoholic drinks that can make people drunk， which is also used in other types of products such as beer and wine， while herein it refers to '清酒' or Saki-Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. The understanding of sentence 4 have something related to the language environment， the clear meaning of the word '花' cannot be figured out given that the readers have no idea about what is the most famous flower in Luoyang city.

3.2 An Individual for a Class

（5） 水光瀲滟晴方好，山色空蒙雨亦奇，欲把西湖比西子，淡妝濃抹總相宜。

蘇軾——《飲湖上初晴后雨》

Xi shi， the famous beauty in the spring and autumn period， is beautiful enough to cause the fall of a city or a state. Thus， Su shi uses Xi shi to describe the picturesque scenery of the west lake where many beautiful things visitors simply can't take them all in. Undoubtedly， the use of a famous beauty to compare to the wonderful scenery give readers space to imagine how the west lake really looks like.

（6） 書生治兵，十城九空。

This sentence is a typical exemplification of an individual for a class， the phrase '書生' was used to refer to the men of letter， the word '兵' means the army， the idiom coneys that the war usually would failed on the condition that the literary was in command.

（7） その日私は彼らに誓って言った。エジプトの地より彼らを導き出し、私が彼らのために探し求めた乳と蜜の流れる土地、すべての地のうちでこの上なくうるわしい土地へいかせようと。

——舊約<エゼキエル書>

This excerpt from Exodus of the Old Testament describes the Hebrew leader Moses who leads people out of Egypt to seek the so-called '乳と蜜の流れる土地'. Actually， it just a figurative expression， the milk and honey are just the two kinds of specific food， the author herein just uses them to refer to a place full of a great variety of food， which to some extent shows their extremely terrible situation and expectation for a wonderful land.

（8） 三人の革職人は、一人の諸葛亮に匹敵する。

（9） 雷鋒に學べ。

（10） 人手が足りない。

In sentence 8， the word '諸葛亮' originally means a exceedingly wise statesman and strategist， prime minister of the Kingdom of Shu in the period of the Three Kingdoms （220-265）. It herein become a symbol of resourcefulness and wisdom. In example 9， the word '雷鋒' literally refers to a soldier in the People's Liberation Army and is a communist legend in China， who was characterized as a selfless and modest person devoted to the Communist party and the people of China after passed away. Thus， the word '雷鋒' refer to the selfless and great people herein. Besides， the word '人手' is human body， it was used herein to explain that they need more people to help.

IV. Conclusion

It can be found that both Chinese and Japanese synecdoche tend to lay more emphasis on affiliation and similarities rather than association. Moreover， the understanding and deduction of figurative meaning are more related to the context of culture and situation. In terms of pragmatic function， although synecdoche can be used for animals and inanimate objects， it often dehumanizes a person， emphasizing a certain characteristic or function. For another， the function of synecdoche is to emphasize specific aspects of the thing or person that the synecdoche represents， and to minimize the importance of the thing itself.