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Deferred reference

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 219.98.27.167 (talk) at 19:00, 10 November 2008 (→Japanese: Since the topic marker wa dismisses the asked eel from the topic, the unagi here cannot refer to that eel. Using ga instead expresses "the eel" but is less prominent as an example.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In natural language, a deferred reference is the metonymic use of an expression to refer to an entity related to the conventional meaning of that expression, but not denoted by it. Several types of deferred reference have been studied in the literature.

Examples

English

The following examples are from (Nunberg 1995):

  • (server to a co-worker in a deli) The ham sandwich is at table 7.
  • (restaurant patron to a valet, indicating a key) This is parked out back.
  • Yeats is still widely read.

Japanese

The following example is a famous linguistic joke.

  • (in a restaurant, when asked for an order) I am an eel (僕は鰻だ, boku wa unagi da).

References

  • Nunberg, Geoffrey (1979). "The non-uniqueness of semantic solutions: Polysemy". Linguistics and Philosophy. 3: 143–184. doi:10.1007/BF00126509. ISSN 0165-0157 OCLC 3127141.
  • Nunberg, Geoffrey (1995). "Transfers of meaning". Journal of Semantics. 12: 109–132. doi:10.1093/jos/12.2.109. ISSN 1477-4593 ISSN 0167-5133 OCLC 49846877.
  • Ward, Gregory (2004). "Equatives and deferred reference" (PDF). Language. 80 (2): 262–289. doi:10.1353/lan.2004.0102. ISSN 0097-8507. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
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