REFERENCE

REFERENCE

1. WORDS THEMSELVES DON´T REFER TO ANYTHING

   • REFERENCE AS AN ACT IN WHICH A SPEAKER OR WRITER USES LINGUISTIC FORMS TO ENABLE A LISTENER/READER TO IDENTIFY STH
     • THOSE LINGUISTIC FORMS ARE REFERRING EXPRESSIONS (PROPER NOUNS, NOUN PHRASES DEFINITE OR INDEFINITE AND PRONOUNS)
       • THE CHOICE OF ONE OR THE OTHER IS BASED ON WHAT THE SPEAKER ASSUMES THE LISTENER ALREADY KNOWS

2. IS TIED TO THE SPEAKER´S GOALS AND BELIEFS IN THE USE OF LANGUAGE

   • AND NOT ONLY WORK BETWEEN ONE SPEAKER AND ONE LISTENER; ALL MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY WHO SHARE A COMMON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

3. FOR SUCCESFUL REFERENCE TO OCUR, WE MUST RECOGNIZE THE ROLE OF INFERENCE

   • THE LISTENER´S TASK IS TO INFER CORRECTLY WHIC ENTITY THE SPEAKER INTENDS TO IDENTIGY BY USING PARTICULAR REFERRING EXPRESSIONS

4. NOT ALL REFERRING EXPRESSIONS HAVE IDENTIFIABLE PHYSICAL REFERENTS

   • ATTRIBUTIVE USE
     • WHOEVER/WHATEVER FITS THE DESCRIPTION
   • REFERENTIAL USE
     • I HAVE A PERSON /THING IN MIND
   • EXPRESSION THEMSELVES CANNOT BE TREATED AS HAVING REFERENCE, BUT ARE/AREN´T INVESTED WITH REFERENTIAL FUNCTION IN CONTEXT BY SPEAKER/WRITER

5. TO IDENTIFY INTENDED REFERENTS DEPENDS ON MORE THAN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE REFERRING EXPRESSIONS

   • CO-TEXT
     • LIMITS THE RANGE OF REFERENCE, THAT IS A NUMBER OF POSSIBLE REFERENTS

6. ANAPHOR ANTECEDENT

   • PROCESS OF CONTINUING TO IDENTIFY EXACTLY THE SAE ENTITY AS DENOTED BY THE ANTECEDENT
     • IS OFTEN INDEFINITE, DEFINITE NOUN PHRASES AND THE PRONOUNS
   • THE INITIAL EXPRESSION

7. WHEN INTERPRETATION REQUIRES US TO IDENTIFY AN ENTITY AND NO LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION IS PRESENT, IT IS CALLED:

   • ZERO ANAPHORA OR ELLIPSIS
     • EXPECTATION THAT THE LISTENER WILL BE ABLE TO INFER WHO/WHAT THE SPEAKER INTENDS TO IDENTIFY