Metonymy in numerals

By adopting a synchronic/diachronic perspective, the study addresses the role of metonymy in the representation of numerical quantity. This can be observed in: a) the motivation relating individual numeral forms, as well as the internal organization of the whole numeral sequence, to non-numeric entities involved in actual quantifying procedures; b) the phenomenon by which certain salient numerosities function as reference points (Langacker, 1993) for other numerical representations within the functional/conceptual domain (Barcelona, 2011) of numerical quantity. First, a metonymic interpretation of a small group of numerals from different linguistic areas is proposed. Subsequently, the study focuses on a class of collective numerals in contemporary standard Italian that are derived from cardinals by means of affixation with –ino. The analysis of these word formations is aimed at demonstrating that metonymic mapping is a prerequisite for derivation, and that the mapping is based on privileged conceptual/pragmatic functions within the domain of NUMEROSITY.