Reference and inference

By: Esra’a Rawah

We know that words themselves do not refer to anything but people do refer.

Reference is an act in which a speaker or writer uses linguistic forms to enable a listener or reader to identify something.

-Those linguistic forms are referring

expressions which can be:

1- Proper nouns ( for example, Shakespeare, Hawaii )

2- noun phrases which are definite ( for example, the author, the singer) or indefinite ( for example, a man, a women)

3- pronouns ( for example, He, it, them)

-The choice of one type of referring expression depends on what the speaker assumes the listener already knows.

- The role of inference: Because there is no direct relationship between entities and words, the listener’s task is to infer correctly which entity the speaker intends to identify by using a particular referring expression.

-Speakers use vague expressions when they want to refer to some entity without knowing exactly which name would be the best word to use ( for example, the blue thing, that icky stuff ). We can use this expression relying on the listener’s ability to infer what referent we have in mind.

Referential and attributive uses

By: Salma Mansoor

-It is important to recognize that not all referring expressions have identifiable physical referents.

-Indefinite noun phrase can be used to:1 -identify a physically present entity,

e.g. There’s man waiting for you.2 -describe an unknown entity that is assumed to

exist ,e.g. He wants to marry a woman with lots of money3- describe entities that, as far as we know, don’t exist,e.g. We’d love to find a nine-foot-tall basketball player.

*The expression in [2] ‘a woman with lots of money’ can designate an entity that is known to the speaker only in terms of its descriptive properties.

*The word ‘a’ can be replaced by ‘any’ in this case. This is sometimes called attributive use meaning ‘whoever/ whatever fits the

description .

It would be distinct from a referential use whereby I actually have a person in mind and, instead of using her name or some other description, I choose the expression in [2], perhaps because I think you’d be more interested in hearing that this woman has lots of money than that she has a name.

A similar distinction can be found with definite noun phrases. For example the definite expression ‘the killer’ in [4] below can be an attributive use if there is no particular person who could be the referent (i.e. whoever did the killing).

[4 ]There was no sign of the killer.However, if a particular person had been identified as having done the killing, then the definite expression ‘the killer’ would be a

referential use .

Names And referents

By: Karema Basakran

NAMES a word or a combination of words

by which a person, place, or thing, a body or class, or any object of thought is designated, called, or known (e.g. Shakespeare, the cheese sandwich).

REFERENTS

Words themselves don’t refer to anything, people refer. Reference is thought of as an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something.

THREE-DIMENSIONAL DIAGRAM

Speakers------ reference------ intention

Listeners------ inference------ interpretation

Reference is a process in which there is a basic ‘intention-to-identify’ and a ‘recognition-of-intention’ . This process works between all members of a community who share a common language and culture.

EXAMPLES OF INFERENCE

(1) a: Where is the fresh salad sitting?

b: He’s sitting by the door. (2) a: Can I look at your

Shakespeare? b: Sure, it’s on the shelf over

there.

LOGICAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN REFERENCE AND INFERENCE

These examples make it clear that we can use names associated with things (salad) to refer to people and names of people (Shakespeare) to refer to things. The key process here is called inference. An inference is any additional information used by the hearer to connect what is said to what must be meant. In example (2), the hearer has to infer that the name of the writer of a book can be used to identify a book by that writer. In pragmatics, the act by which a speaker or writer uses language to enable a hearer or reader to identify something is called reference.

THE ROLE OF CO-TEXT

By: Manal Al-Shamrani

-We don’t only understand the intended referents by understanding the refereeing expression we, get the help from the co-text , too .

-The referring expression can provide us with a range of reference.e.g. a-the cheese sandwich is made with white bread. { we mean food }

b-the cheese sandwich left without paying. { we mean person}

Co-text is just a linguistic part of the environment in which a referring expression is used.

Context is the physical environment which has a powerful impact on how referring expressions are to be interpreted. Analysis of reference depends on local context and local knowledge of the participants .

e.g. The heart attack mustn’t be moved .

‘The heart attack’ is a patient the nurse is calling him with the name of

illness he has .

Anaphoric References

By: Aziza Alwani

After the initial introduction of some entity , speakers will use various expressions to maintain reference .

g.e. 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 .

• Initial reference or introductory mention is often indefinite (a man , a woman , a cat ) and it is called antecedent.

• The definite noun phrases (the man ,the woman, the cat) and the pronouns ( it , he , her , they ) are subsequent reference to already mentioned referents , known as anaphoric reference .

• The anaphoric reference is a process of continuing to identify exactly the same entity as donated by the antecedent .

• There is also a reversal of the antecedent-anaphor pattern sometimes found at the beginning of stories .

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

• Note that the pronoun ‘it’ is used first and can’t be interpreted until the full noun phrases is present. That is called cataphora .

• There is range of expressions which are used for anaphoric reference in English . The most typical forms are pronouns , such as ‘ it ‘, but definite noun phrases are also used, such as ‘ the slice ‘ .

• E.g a- Peel an onion and slice it . b- Drop the slices into hot oil . c- Cook for three minutes .When the interpretation requires us to identify an entity , as

in ‘ cook for three minutes ‘, and no linguistic expression is present, it is called zero anaphora or ellipsis .

• The use of zero anaphora as a means of maintaining reference clearly creates an expectation that the listener will be able to infer who or what the speaker intends to identify .