PRAGMATICS - REFERENCE AND INFERENCE

REFERENCE AND INFERENCE

REFERRING EXPRESSIONS

Proper Nouns

Shakespeare

Hawaii

Noun Phrases

Definite

the author

the singer

Indefinite

a man

a beautiful place

Pronouns

The choice of one type of

referring expression rather than

another seems to be based on

what the speaker assumes the

listener already knows

The nature of reference interpretation is also

what allows the readers to make sense of

newspaper headlines using names of

countries.

There seems to be a PRAGMATIC CONNECTION between

proper nouns and objects that will be conventionally

associated, within a socio-culturally defined

community, with those names.

Referent?

Shakespeare takes up the whole bottom shelf.

Books

We´re going to see Shakespeare in London.

Referent?

A play

I hated Shakespeare at school.

Referent?

Reading his plays

There is a convention that certain referring

expressions will be used to identify certain

entities on a regular basis. This appears to

work between all members of a community

who share a common language and culture.

Brazil wins World Cup.

Co-text

Referring

expression

co-text limits the range of

possible interpretations

provides a range of reference, that is,

a number of possible referents.

Can I borrow your Shakespeare?

Yes, it´s over there on the table.

A book.

Referent?

Where´s the cheese sandwich sitting?

He´s over there by the window.

Referent?

A person.

CONTEXT

There was no sign of the killer.

The physical environment

The speaker does not know for sure

if there is a person who could be the

referent of the definite expression.

It has a powerful impact on how referring expressions are to be interpreted.

The cheese sandwich is made with white bread.

The cheese sandwich left without paying.

If there has been a killer...

Attributive use (Whoever

fits the description)

Context: a restaurant

The different co-texts lead to a different type of interpretation in each case.

Referential

DEIXIS?

There was an assumption that the use of words to

refer to people and things was a relatively straightforward

matter

The heart-attack mustn´t be moved.

A hospital.

Context?

Not all referring expressions have

identifiable physical referents

Your ten-thirty just cancelled.

A man: indefinite noun phrase

There´s a man waiting for you.

He wants to marry a woman with lots of money.

A dentist´s office

Context?

A woman: entity that is known to the speaker only in terms of its descriptive properties.

We´d love to find a nine-foot tall basketball player.

A couple of rooms have complained about the heat.

nine-foot tall basketball player: entities that do not exist.

Context?

A hotel reception

Mister Aftershave is late today

In the film, a man and a woman

were trying to wash a cat. The man was holding

the cat while the woman poured water on it. He said something to her and they started laughing.

referring expression

The speaker is relying on the listener´s ability

to infer what referent we have in mind.

Antecedent?

A man and a woman were trying to wash a cat.

often indefinite

For successful refence to occur, we must recognize the role of

Anaphor?

INFERENCE

The man was holding the cat while the woman poured water on it. He said something to her and they started laughing.

Wikipedia: "Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions

from premises known or assumed to be true".

makes reference to already introduced references.

REFERENCE

Clearly tied to the speaker´s

goals

for example, to identify something

This is called CATAPHORA

An act in which a speaker or

writer uses linguistic forms

to enable a listener or reader

to identify something.

and the speaker´s beliefs

in the use of language

for example, can the listener be expected to know that particular something?

It is less common than Anaphora.

I turned the corner and almost stepped on it. There was a large snake in the middle of the path.

It

is difficult to interpret until the full noun phrase is presented in the next line.