Bowerman, J;
(2019)
What's really going on with the ham sandwich? An investigation into the nature of referential metonymy.
International Review of Pragmatics
, 11
(1)
pp. 22-55.
10.1163/18773109-201810012.
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Abstract
Working within the framework of Relevance Theory, I investigate the nature of referential metonymy (specifically, metonymically-used definite descriptions), aiming to elucidate (i) the pragmatic mechanisms involved in referential metonymy comprehension, and (ii) the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to the explicitly communicated content of an utterance. I propose that, while the interpretation of referential metonymy is properly inferential in nature, it cannot be explained in terms of 'meaning modulation' (narrowing and broadening); rather, the literal meaning of a metonymically-used referring expression remains intact, and is used as evidence of the speaker's target referent. In addition, I argue that the referential/attributive distinction proposed by Donnellan (1966) for literally-used definite descriptions also applies to metonymically-used definite descriptions. Thus, the contribution of a metonymically-used definite description to explicit utterance content differs according to whether the definite description is used 'referentially' or 'attributively'.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | What's really going on with the ham sandwich? An investigation into the nature of referential metonymy |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1163/18773109-201810012 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-201810012 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | eferential metonymy; Relevance Theory; explicature; referential/attributive distinction; interpretive use |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Linguistics |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10127861 |
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