# Deferred reference

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In [natural language](/source/natural_language), a '''deferred reference''' is the [metonymic](/source/metonymy) 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.
<!--* The table is made of ''oak''. "Oak" often means "timber from an oak tree": this example is literal and not a metaphor. -->

== References ==
* {{cite journal|author=Nunberg, Geoffrey|title=The non-uniqueness of semantic solutions: Polysemy|journal=[Linguistics and Philosophy](/source/Linguistics_and_Philosophy)|year=1979|volume=3|pages=143&ndash;184|issn=0165-0157 |oclc= 3127141 |doi=10.1007/BF00126509|issue=2|s2cid=62625894 }}
* {{cite journal|author=Nunberg, Geoffrey|title=Transfers of meaning|journal=[Journal of Semantics](/source/Journal_of_Semantics)|year=1995|volume=12|pages=109&ndash;132 |issn= 0167-5133 |oclc= 49846877 |doi=10.1093/jos/12.2.109|issue=2|s2cid=29810216|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1304/440803fbe58f5ecc37bbbbf36dcf90527e98.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228155010/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1304/440803fbe58f5ecc37bbbbf36dcf90527e98.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-12-28}}
* {{cite journal|author=Ward, Gregory|title=Equatives and deferred reference|year=2004|journal=[Language](/source/Language_(journal))|volume=80|issue=2|pages=262&ndash;289|issn=0097-8507|url=http://www.ling.northwestern.edu/~ward/Language04.pdf|accessdate=2007-01-19|doi=10.1353/lan.2004.0102|s2cid=21590473 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325045218/http://www.ling.northwestern.edu/~ward/Language04.pdf|archive-date=2007-03-25|url-status=dead}}

__NOTOC__

Category:Semantics
Category:Metonymy

{{semantics-stub}}

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