METAPHOR AND METONYMY IN ACTION AND INTERACTION IN MEDICAL ENGLISH
METAPHOR AND METONYMY IN ACTION AND INTERACTION IN MEDICAL ENGLISH

Summary/Abstract: In the present article, we offer a diachronic classification of the understanding of the role of metaphor in Medicine. We identify three periods, the first one of them being based on denial, Restrictive View, the second one – on affirmation, Descriptive View, and the last one – on manipulation, Proscriptive View. We also explain the surge of interest in metonymy from a cognitive linguistics perspective, and contrast the present perception of metonymy as intertwined with metaphor to the now classical idea of metonymy as a phenomenon that is separate and divergent from metaphor. We endorse the latest understanding of the interplay between metaphor and metonymy in Medical English as a difficult one to be dismantled: it is hard to clearly delimitate the realm of each one of the pair.Thus while it is clear that metaphor and metonymy act in scientific discourse, it is not equally clear what internal limits must be set to their interaction. We suggest that, by the time an objective and clear way of differentiating between the two is agreed upon, the greatest efforts should be directed at elucidating hidden metaphor and metonymy in Medical English.

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