Preschoolers’ acquisition of producer-product metonymy

Many words carry multiple distinct but related senses. For example, a producer’s name (e.g., Picasso) can be metonymically extended to label products Picasso’s paintings) rarely refer other associated items paintbrushes). We test whether item-based linguistic experience is necessary for children’s acquisition of semantic generalizations. In Experiment 1, we present 4- 5-year-olds, 8- 9-year-olds, and adults with scenarios involving novel conventional artists’ names Dax or metonymic extension the that could either tools. find tendency choose product as referent in increases age, stronger conventional, opposed novel, names. follow-up experiments, replicate 5-year-olds’ referent, when metonyms are Picasso), multi-syllabic Zazapa), familiar Smith), rarely, if ever, used Mandela). also show preschoolers do not possess explicit knowledge artists. Overall, these findings suggest young children acquire producer-product metonymy without much, any, prior producers’ discuss implications conceptual usage-based accounts