PARS-PRO-TOTO-METONYMIEN UND -METAPHERN IN DER SUBSTANTIVKOMPOSITION DES DEUTSCHEN

Abstract

The paper aims at investigating an idiosyncratic category of contemporary German
exocentric nominal compounds that comprise an underlying pars pro toto metonymy or
metaphor. The structural pattern of determinative compounding is used to create
common nouns that explicitly contain a lexeme designating a body part or a component
while referring to the related whole. These units reveal a feature of the part that is
actually or metaphorically present, designating the corresponding whole entity in a
more or less motivated way. The article further discusses the defining formal,
semantic-referential and stylistic features of such terms describing people, and, less
frequently, animals, plants or objects, with a view to highlighting their distinctly
colloquial and affective-evaluative nature.