Metonymies don't bomb people

What is it about?

Sentences like "Nixon bombed Hanoi" are often explained as an example of metonymy, a kind of figurative language where one person, place or thing stands for another person, place or thing to which it is connected in the real world. In "Nixon bombed Hanoi", "Nixon" is assumed to stand for the bomber crews dropping the bombs, since he is their commander in chief in the real world. My paper shows that this account does not capture the full range of subjects occurring with the verb "bomb" and that it makes predictions that are not reflected in language use. Instead, I argue that the role that subjects in transitive clauses play must be characterized more broadly, allowing for a literal interpretation of such sentences.

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Why is it important?

The paper is "important" in that it shows that cognitive linguistic explanations must be in line with observed language use if cognitive linguistics is, as it claims to be, a usage-based theory of language.