ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies metaphor, simile, metonymy and synecdoche as ‘master tropes’. It introduces two sets of basic principles: expression, sense and reference (ascription and referent), and lexicalisation and non-lexicalisation, applying these via an extended version of the topic-vehicle-grounds approach to non-lexicalised tropes and lexicalised tropes. It considers the relationship between lexicalisation and idioms. The chapter provides a refined analysis of non-lexicalised tropes, based on the insights that there are no categorical distinctions between (1) core, periphery, approximation and transfer sub-senses of words and phrases, and (2) metaphor, metonymy and synecdoche. It compares the Arab figurative tradition with that of the West and looks at a number of key aspects of tropes beyond the topic-vehicle-grounds analysis: metaphorical force, conceptual metaphor theory, purposes of metaphor and simile, and purposes of metonymy and synecdoche. Turning specifically to Arabic/English translation, it considers works on the translation of tropes between Arabic and English, general issues of metaphor translation, congruence and incongruence, and metaphorical exuberance and density.
