Kompositummetaphern

semantische Innovation und textpragmatische Funktion

Abstract

This paper discusses metaphorical compounds, that is, determinative compounds in the form AB, in which A or B is understood to be used metaphorically. Key issues that have not yet been sufficiently taken into account in the research into word formation and metaphor are also debated. Firstly, metaphorical compounds are precisely defined and distinguished from the formation of comparisons. Secondly, it is shown that novel metaphorical compounds can be identified and interpreted only in the specific context of communication: metaphorical compounds are explained as a phenomenon of the semantics-pragmatics interface, since recipients must interrelate and integrate semantic and pragmatic knowledge in order to realise the signification, in which process emergent conceptual features can also be established. Thirdly, metaphorical compounds are also explained, moreover, in relation to the establishment of coherence and with regard to their various communicative-pragmatic functions.