文丨梁洋Ernest
导读
英语修辞无处不在。
一首节奏感很强的英文诗，它十有八九使用了头韵(alliteration) 或尾韵(rhyme) ；
一篇英文演讲，它很可能为了突出气势，八成运用了排比(parallelism)；
而一本英文童话，它或许少不了明喻 (simile)、暗喻 (metaphor) 和拟人 (personification) 的点缀。
哪怕你不读英美文学作品，肯定也要看新闻，而新闻英语中就包含一些我们看似熟悉但却陌生的修辞，比如转喻 (metonymy) 和提喻 (synecdoche) 。
为更好解释这两个概念，先举一例：
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has requested the full removal of a Saudi-led blockade of Qatar after approving the deployment of Turkish troops there, saying Riyadh needed to put brotherhood ahead of animosity.(2017/06/10 Al Jazeera)
［译］土耳其总统埃尔多安同意驻军卡塔尔后，要求以沙特为主的国家完全解除针对卡塔尔的封锁，并表示沙特要把兄弟关系置于国家恩怨之上。
请注意，笔者在这里并未按 Riyadh（利雅得，沙特首都）字面义翻译，而是译为“沙特（阿拉伯）”这个国家。当然，我们从上下文中是可以确定该词意思，但新闻读得多了，你就会发现，这种写法其实是一种修辞——转喻 (metonymy)。
一、转喻
关于转喻，维基百科的解释是：
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
The location of a capital is often used as a metonym for a government or other official institutions—for example: Brussels for the institutions of the European Union, The Hague for the International Court of Justice, Nairobi for the government of Kenya, Washington, D.C., for the federal government of the United States, or Beacon Hill for the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. A place can represent an entire industry: for instance Wall Street is often used metonymically to describe the entire U.S. financial and corporate banking sector. Common nouns and phrases can also be metonyms: red tape can stand for bureaucracy, whether or not that bureaucracy actually uses red tape to bind documents. In Commonwealth realms, The Crown is a metonym for the state in all its aspects.
Synecdoche and metaleps is are considered specific types of metonymy. (Wikipedia)
上述英文主要包含以下三点：
① 定义：转喻 (metonymy) 修辞是用一名称来指代与之密切相关的事物或概念；
② 表现形式：
- 首都 (府) 所在位置 → 政府或其他机构
- 某个地点 → 整个行业
- 普通名词或词组 → 相关事物或概念
③ 分类：提喻 (synecdoche)、进一步转喻法 (metalepsis)
文中举了常见的8个转喻例子，不妨记下：
- Brussels(布鲁塞尔) = the institutions of the European Union(欧盟各主要机构)
- The Hague(海牙)= the International Court of Justice(国际法庭)
- Nairobi(内罗比) =the government of Kenya(肯尼亚政府)
- Washington, D.C.= the federal government of the United States
- Beacon Hill(波士顿灯塔山)= the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts
- Wall Street= the entire U.S. financial and corporate banking sector
- red tape(捆扎公文的红色带子) = bureaucracy
- The Crown= the state in all its respects (英联邦国家整体)
小结：转喻用一名称来指代相关事物，通常表现为：首都→政府，地点→相关行业等。
二、提喻
上文中提到，转喻包含提喻，但两者仍存在一定区别。请看：
A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa. A synecdoche is a class of metonymy, often by means of either mentioning a part for the whole or conversely the whole for one of its parts. Examples from common English expressions include "bread and butter" (for "livelihood"), "suits" (for "businessmen"), and "boots" (for "soldiers") (pars pro toto), or conversely "America" (for "the United States of America") (totum pro parte).
The use of government buildings to refer to their occupant(s) is on the border between synecdoche and metonymy. "The Pentagon" for the United States Department of Defense can be considered synecdoche, as the building can be considered part of the department. "No. 10" for the British Prime Minister can be counted as metonymy, since the building is not part of the person, but using "No. 10" to mean "the Office of the Prime Minister" is synecdoche. (Wikipedia)
这两段主要说明了：
① 定义：提喻 (synecdoche) 修辞是以局部代表整体，或以整体代表部分。
② 表现形式：政府建筑→政府建筑的居住者
五角大楼 (The Pentagon) = 美国国防部 (the United States Department of Defense)
唐宁街十号(No. 10) = 英国首相办公室 (the Office of the Prime Minister)
注：以“唐宁街十号”指代“英国首相”，则为转喻 (metonymy) ，而非提喻 (synecdoche)，因为该建筑并不是首相的一部分。
小结：转喻与提喻的区别是：转喻强调相关性，而提喻侧重整体与部分的关系。
三、练习
请判断下列新闻中的粗体字是转喻词，还是提喻词。
(1) Russians went to the polls Sunday in a parliamentary vote that the Kremlin hopes will maintain its stranglehold on national politics without provoking protests like those that erupted five years ago over widespread fraud. (2016/9/18 The Washington Post)
［译］9月18日，俄罗斯人前往投票点对议会进行投票。俄罗斯政府希望该投票不会引起类似五年前那些因大范围舞弊而爆发的抗议，而是维持其对国家政治的完全控制。
【转喻词】Kremlin
→ Putin administration或Russian government
(2) The United States has suspended talks with Russia over the war in Syria and accused Moscow of not living up to its commitments under a ceasefire agreement.(2016/10/4 Al Jazeera)
［译］美国暂停同俄罗斯就叙利亚战争进行谈判，指责俄方未能恪守停火协议下的承诺。
【提喻词】Moscow → Russia
(3) Downing Street has "wholeheartedly" rejected comments in a memorandum leaked to the press describing cabinet "divisions" over Brexit... And Deloitte said there had been no "access" to Number 10 for the report.(2016/11/15 BBC)
［译］媒体披露的一份备忘录描述了内阁对脱欧的种种“分歧”，英国政府“打心眼里”拒绝评论该备忘录……德勤(Deloitte) 称其无“权”从政府那里得到这份报告。
【转喻词】Downing Street / Number 10
→ British government
(4) Prince Philip, 95-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, is to step down from public life, Buckingham Palace has announced. (2017/5/4 CNN)
［译］英国王室宣布，英国女王伊丽莎白二世的丈夫、现年95岁的菲利普亲王即将退休，告别公众活动。
【提喻词】Buckingham Palace
→ British royal family
(5) Hillary Clinton came out swinging Wednesday, ripping Russia for her November loss to President Trump and accusing the White House of colluding with Moscow in weaponizing technology to bring her campaign down.(2017/05/31 Fox News)
［译］希拉里·克林顿 (Hillary Clinton) 对俄罗斯展开反击，抨击其导致她去年11月大选输给特朗普，并指责特朗普政府勾结俄方，靠技术武器搞垮了她的竞选活动。
【提喻词】
Moscow → Russia
【转喻词】
White House → the Trump Administration
(6) Beijing is in prime position to capitalize on major policy fissures that have emerged between Europe and the Trump administration on climate, trade and defense. (2017/05/31 CNN)
［译］欧盟就气候、贸易和防务政策与美国特朗普政府产生分歧，而这正是中国利用该分歧联手欧盟的最佳时机。
【提喻词】
Beijing → China
【提喻词】
Europe (整体) → European Union (部分)
(7) The European Union has rejected Donald Trump’s offer to renegotiate the Paris climate agreement and pledged instead to bypass Washington to work with US business leaders and state governors to implement the historic accord’s commitments.(2017/6/2 The Guardian)
［译］特朗普表示要重议巴黎气候协定，欧盟对此予以回绝，并承诺要绕过美国政府，转而与该国商业领袖和各州州长合作，共同履行该历史性协定义务。
【转喻词】
Washington
→ Trump administration / U.S. government
附：常见转喻(或借喻)和提喻词一览
注：以上两张图片摘自《美英报刊导读》(第二版) （周学艺编著）。
谢谢阅读。
推荐阅读：英语学不好，可能是词典的问题（上）