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.