Evolution in Linguistics – Conceptual Innovation, Metonymy, and Miscommunication

Conceptual innovations in science (‘paradigm shifts’ in the sense of Kuhn) come with changes in the meaning of basic terminology in that field. Linguistics is no exception. But linguistics is in the peculiar position that it comprises the study of the meaning of linguistic items, and the way these meanings change. Some basic ideas of cognitive semantics, especially the concept of metonymy, shed light on the risk of miscommunication in a scientific field in a period of innovation. Paradoxically, these risks are instantiated in a controversy in the field of linguistics itself that was triggered by the then new, Darwinian understanding of evolution. The paper ends by exploring a recent theoretical innovation (the ‘usage-based’ approach, especially its most recent variants) that holds a promise for overcoming the controversies, provided theoretical linguists accept that terminology also in their own field is to be semantically more precise than in everyday language use.