engleski

Accessing generic referents by metonymy

Generic reference to a class as a whole is achieved metonymically via its members. The metonymies that motivate these generalizations and account for their meanings are: (1) SPECIFIC FOR GENERIC (or TOKEN FOR TYPE) as in 'An Italian is musical', which generalizes from any one (indefinite) member to the class. (2) REPRESENTATIVE MEMBER OF A CATEGORY FOR THE CATEGORY as in The Italian is musical, which generalizes from one (definite) representative member to the class. (3) MEMBERS SHARING A CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTY FOR THE CATEGORY as in Italians are musical, which generalizes from an (indefinite) number of members sharing a characteristic property to the class. (4) SALIENT MEMBERS OF A CATEGORY FOR THE CATEGORY as in The Italians are musical, which generalizes from a (definite) number of members sharing a salient property to the class.

metonymy; generic reference; class

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