Metonymy 转喻:用相近的词语来替代
Synecdoche 提喻:以部份指称全体
看得懂英文吧,用英文解释一下:
Both are figures of speech used in rhetoric.They’re not the same thing,though metonymy is often interpreted so widely that synecdoche can be regarded as a special case of it.
Let’s take synecdoche first,you use this when you speak of a part of something but mean the whole thing.You can also reverse the whole and the part,so using a word for something when you only mean part of it.This often comes up in sport:a commentator might say that “The West Indies has lost to England” when he means that the West Indian team has lost to the English one.America is often used as synecdoche in this second sense,as the word refers to the whole continent but is frequently applied to a part of it,the USA.
Metonymy is similar,but uses something more generally or loosely associated with a concept to stand in for it.When Americans speak of the Oval Office,for example,they are really referring to the activity within it,the position or function of the President.It’s a linked term,and so a metonym.British writers refer similarly to the Crown,when they’re really discussing the powers,authority and responsibilities of the monarchy,which is symbolised by the crown.
The difference between synecdoche and metonymy is that in metonymy the word you employ is linked to the concept you are really talking about,but isn’t actually a part of it.
