Semiotics: Rhetorical Tropes

Daniel Chandler's Questions:

Chandler's notes on rhetorical tropes

Sign systems rely on metaphors and metonymy, comparisons between things. These range from the obvious, like the Absolut Vodka ads, to the subtle, like editing in film, which implies a relationship between things.


Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money)

    George Lakoff and Mark Johnson illustrate that underlying most of our fundamental concepts are several kinds of metaphor:

    • orientational metaphors primarily relating to spatial organization (up/down, in/out, front/back, on/off, near/far, deep/shallow and central/peripheral);
    • ontological metaphors which associate activities, emotions and ideas with entities and substances (most obviously, metaphors involving personification);
    • structural metaphors: overarching metaphors (building on the other two types) which allow us to structure one concept in terms of another (e.g. rational argument is war or time is a resource)

    from Daniel Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners


Metonymy: a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated (as "crown" in "lands belonging to the crown")

    Metonymy includes the substitution of:

    • effect for cause ('Don't get hot under the collar!' for 'Don't get angry!');
    • object for user (or associated institution) ('the Crown' for the monarchy, 'the stage' for the theatre and 'the press' for journalists);
    • substance for form ('plastic' for 'credit card', 'lead' for 'bullet');
    • place for event: ('Chernobyl changed attitudes to nuclear power');
    • place for person ('No. 10' for the British prime minister);
    • place for institution ('Whitehall isn't saying anything');
    • institution for people ('The government is not backing down').

    Lakoff and Johnson comment on several types of metonym, including:

    • producer for product ('She owns a Picasso');
    • object for user ('The ham sandwich wants his check [bill]');
    • controller for controlled ('Nixon bombed Hanoi')

    from Daniel Chandler, Semiotics for Beginners


Synecdoche: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as "fifty sail" for "fifty ships"), the whole for a part (as "society" for "high society"), the species for the genus (as "cutthroat" for "assassin"), the genus for the species (as a "creature" for a "man"), or the name of the material for the thing made (as "boards" for "stage").

This can be as simple as a close-up, where a part of a person (say, their hands) are supposed to represent the person. Indeed, most fiction is synecdoche, since it often tries to say something about a larger reality based on a specific case.

Irony: the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.

In irony, there is a double sign. The literal statement draws its meaning from outside of it. So, if someone says "Oh, he's real cute", it is possible that the meaning is the opposite, and we know that from a cue, such as the context or situation, a visual cue such as a facial expression, or something else.

Examples: