Have you done your Chomsky? metonymic naming and reference

Author(s): Anne Pankhurst
E-mail: Anne.Pankhurst@ed.ac.uk

This paper discusses some questions encountered in research on metonymy, a common linguistic and cognitive phenomenon and an important referring mechanism. Familiarity of context and shared knowledge enable us to extend reference by naming and renaming the referent. In the light of claims by Gibbs that metonymy is a universal process of cognition, the paper considers some consequences of using metonymy in the processes of reference and naming. It will comment on the importance of metonymy in communicating attitudes of association or dissociation. Examples are taken from written and spoken language to test Gibbs' theory of poetic cognition.

Paper: Postscript (333178 bytes)