The role of metonymy in Czech word-formation * LAURA A. JANDA ABSTRACT: This article explores the role of metonymic semantic relationships in the derivation of words via suffixation in Czech. Most scholarly work on metonymy has focused on the use of one word to substitute for another word, as when we say redhead to refer to a whole person. A similar semantic relationship is present when we form a word like břicháč ‘person with a (big) belly’ from the noun břicho ‘belly’. However, scholarly work on word-formation has not explored these meto- nymic semantic relationships. This study analyzes a database of 562 types of suffixal formations in Czech, where each type represents a unique combination of metonymic relationship, word-class, and suffix. This analysis not only demonstrates parallels between substitutional and word-forma- tional metonymy, but shows that the metonymic relationships in word-formation are more diverse than in substitution. Asymmetries in these relationships are also explored, showing for example that actions are generally more salient than the participants and the setting, and that parts are more salient than wholes. The design of this study can be extended to analyze the word-formation sys- tems of other languages and thus facilitate cross-linguistic comparisons. Key words: metonymy, word-formation, suffixation, Czech 1 Introduction The purpose of this article is to explore possible comparisons between substitutio- nal metonymy and metonymy in word-formation. Substitutional metonymy is present when a word (a VEHICLE) is used to refer to something other than its usual referent (a TARGET). For example, if I say I need to hire a good head for this project, the word head is the VEHICLE that substitutes for a reference to an entire person (the TARGET). The VEHICLE FOR TARGET model has become the standard for classification of metonymy in cognitive linguistics (cf. Lakoff 1987, Kövecses & Radden 1998, Radden & Kövecses 1999, Panther & Thornburg 1999). The above example is classified as PART FOR WHOLE. However, there are many other metonymic relationships that can be identified. The sen- tence The milk tipped over illustrates a CONTAINED FOR CONTAINER substitutional meto- nymy, since it is actually the container (a glass or a carton) that tipped over, not the milk itself. Czech word-formation yields parallels to the substitutional metonymies described here. For example, břicháč ‘person with a (big) belly’ uses břicho ‘belly’ to refer to a person in a PART FOR WHOLE metonymy and květináč ‘flower-pot’ uses květina ‘flowering plant’ to refer to the pot in a CONTAINED FOR CONTAINER metonymy. Nearly all studies of metonymy thus far have focused on substitutional metonymy. There has been no previous study of the role of metonymy in word-formation as a sys- tematic phenomenon. The most comprehensive inventory of substitutional metonymy to date is presented by Peirsman & Geeraerts (2006; henceforth “P&G”). In order to facilitate a meaningful comparison between substitutional and word-formational meto- 260 Slovo a slovesnost, 71, 2010 * The author is a member of the CLEAR (Cognitive Linguistics: Empirical Approaches to Russian) group at the University of Tromsø and would like to thank the Norwegian Research Council and the Sparebankens gavefond for support.