Metonymy in numerals

Abstract

Abstract By adopting a synchronic/diachronic perspective, the study addresses the role of metonymy in the representation of numerical quantity. This can be observed in: (a) the motivation relating individual numeral forms, as well as the internal organization of the whole numeral sequence, to non-numeric entities involved in actual quantifying procedures; (b) the phenomenon by which certain salient numerosities function as reference points (Langacker, 1993) for other numerical representations within the functional/conceptual domain (Barcelona, 2011) of numerical quantity. First, a metonymic interpretation of a small group of numerals from different linguistic areas is proposed. Subsequently, the study focuses on a class of collective numerals in contemporary standard Italian that are derived from cardinals by means of affixation with -ino. The analysis of these word formations is aimed at demonstrating that metonymic mapping is a prerequisite for derivation, and that the mapping is based on privileged conceptual/pragmatic functions within the domain of numerosity.