Metonymy can be manifest at several levels in proverbs. In this chapter, we identify
five such metonymic layers. We first examine whole proverbs as instances of the specific
- for - generic metonymy. Secondly, proverbs can be seen as indirect speech acts in
which an element of a speech act scenario can stand metonymically for the whole of
the associated illocutionary category. Proverbs can also appear in reduced form, and
the part that is retained is capable of metonymically evoking the whole. A phrase
within a proverb can occasionally be interpreted as an instance of the metonymy participant
for event . Finally, a part of a proverb can receive a non-event metonymic interpretation
that may even happen systematically, as in the case of weather proverbs.
