THE ROLE OF METAPHOR AND METONYMY AS A MECHANISM FOR THE CREATION OF VERBAL IDIOMS

Up to now, in research on the creation of euphemisms and dysphemisms, in general, the linguistic resource of metaphor and metonymy has received outstanding attention. Based on the study of these two most relevant euphemistic and dysphemictic creation resources: conceptual metaphors and metonymies, this paper deals with verbal idioms, defined as fixed combinations of words that function as elements of the sentence and have an idiomatic meaning that does not correspond to the sum of the meanings of its constituents. In addition to covering up and attenuating, the euphemism fulfills the function of enhancing the prohibited reality with the intention of emphasizing some aspects that evalue it and allow to obtaine a positive vision of it. This function seems to be more related to situations in which it is sought to give prestige to certain professions or trades. From a cognitive-pragmatic dimension this research describes the two phenomena, euphemism and dysphemism, as possible processes through which an interdicted reality is conceptualized, each of which has specific objectives and produces a different discursive effect. Specifically, the speaker makes use of a great variety of linguistic resources that allow him to conceal this reality, attenuate it and expressively enhance it, in the case of euphemism, or motivate and reinforce it evocatively, in the case of dysphemism. This approach corresponds to a conception of euphemism and dysphemism that defines them as discursive phenomena that are updated in the context and are subject to pragmatic elements derived from the concrete communicative situation. This research discusses and highlights the pragmatic-discursive approach that offers the possibility of investigating the functioning and actual use of euphemisms and dysphemisms in discourse. Regarding the analysis of euphemistic and dysphemistic verbal idioms, the pragmatic-discursive approach is complemented by another perspective of study that pays attention to the lexical-semantic aspects, as well as to the metaphorical and metonymic nature of this class of phraseologisms. Based on this idea, in euphemistic verbal idioms the metonymies tend to rely on a metaphorical conception based on beliefs or customs, dysphemistic verbal idioms, however, highlight the negative part of the speech, reflected in the process of the action.