Metonymy in Indonesian Prefixal Word-Formation

Major emphasis with respect to the studies of metonymy
is mainly on lexical metonymy. Recent studies by Janda (2010a; 2010b; 2011b) however have shown the role of metonymy in
word-formation. This paper builds on Janda's studies and presents a case study
with the aim to investigate metonymic relationship in Indonesian prefixal
derivation. The database comprises 85 classification types consisting of a
unique combination of metonymy, word class, and a prefix. The range of metonymy
and word class patterns across prefixes is explored. It is shown that one
metonymy and word class pattern can be encoded by more than one prefix. This
study also demonstrates that on average prefixes are relatively not specific in
terms of metonymy and word class patterns they signal. A number of metonymy
patterns exhibit bi-directionality such as ACTION FOR AGENT (beli → pembeli) and AGENT FOR ACTION (supir → menyupir) but most patterns are
uni-directional.