Synecdoche Everywhere : Synecdochic Shifts in Polysemy, Vagueness, and Sub-senses

This paper argues that synecdoche, defined as a conceptual transfer based on hierarchical inclusion between categories (Seto 1999, 2003), is far more pervasive in everyday language than previously acknowledged. The author examines four types of lexical phenomena--polysemy, vagueness, microsenses, and local sub-senses--and demonstrates that each involves GENUS-FOR-SPECIES synecdochic shifts. Words such as dog show polysemy in which both the superordinate and subordinate readings are entrenched. Vague words like friend display only an entrenched superordinate reading, with subordinate readings generated contextually. Words with microsenses, exemplified by knife, have multiple subordinate readings and a weakly entrenched superordinate meaning. Local sub-senses, as in teacher, arise through membership categorization devices and occupy an intermediate position between established senses and ad-hoc interpretations. The paper proposes that these phenomena form a cline based on the degree of entrenchment of their superordinate and subordinate readings. Diachronic evidence from the semantic change of deer supports this gradient view. Finally, the paper suggests that the abundance of GENUS-FOR-SPECIES synecdoche is closely related to the cognitive salience of basic-level categories, which strongly influence the choice of lexical items in reference.