Reference and Inference

Reference and Inference

1. Reference is an act in which a speaker uses linguistic forms to identify something in the world.

   • Those linguistic forms are also called referring expressions
     • Propper nouns
       • Shakespeare, Hawaii.
     • Noun phrases
       • Definite
         • The author, the singer, the island.
       • Indefinite
         • A man, a woman, a beutiful place.
     • Pronouns
       • It, she, her, them.

2. For succesful Reference to occur we must recognise the role of inference and collaboration.

   • An inference is a well informed guess
     • Since there is not always a correspondace between the words and its referent, the user has to make an interpretation of the intended meaning.

3. Words themselves do not refer to anything, it is people who refer.

4. Reference is clearly tied to the speaker's goals and believes. Reference is a social act.

5. Referential and Attributive uses

   • Not all referring expressions have identifiable physical referents
     • The referential use takes place when the referent of the word is known.
       • He wants to marry a woman with a lot of money
     • The attribute use takes place when the referent is unknown so whoever or whatever fits the description.
       • He wants to marry any woman with a lot of money

6. Names and referents

   • There is a pragmatic connection between objects and propper names that will be associted within a sociocultural defined society
     • Can I borrow your Chompsky?
     • Picasso's on the far wall

7. The role of co-text

   • A linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is used.
     • It limits the possible interpretations of a word.
       • -Brazil won the world cup -A couple of rooms have complained about the heat.
   • Different from context, that it's the Physical environment in which a word is used.

8. Anaphoric Reference

   • The expressions used to mantain reference to something or someone already mentioned
     • Antecedent
       • The initial reference is often indefinite (A WOMAN)
     • Anaphora
       • The subsequent reference is definite like HE, SHE, ETC
     • Cataphora
       • It takes place when the anaphora is before the antecedent
     • Zero Anaphora
       • It takes place when it requires us to identify the entity so no linguistic expression is present