2. REFERENCE AND INFERENCE
Reference – the act in/with which a speaker or
writer uses linguistic forms (= referring
expressions) to enable a listener or reader to
identify something.
Example:
A child > the child > Daisy > she
3. REFERENCE AND ATTRIBUTIVE
USE
Not all referring expressions have identifiable
physical referents, eg. I want to find a job with
an enormously high salary and no effort
involved.
We talk about
(ie something that may not exist)
as opposed to
use (something we know to exist):
4. The culprit is assumed to have left the country.
What would be the difference in interpreting
this as either attributive or referential?
Expressions themselves don’t have reference;
they are ‘loaded’ or ‘invested’ with referential
function, in a context, by a speaker and picked
up by a listener (if successful).
5. NAMES AND REFERENTS
Names don’t only refer to persons: Can I borrow
your Yule?
Inference: Name > book/painting/…
Pragmatic connection = a conventional
association between a person’s name and an
object (eg. Yule + his book)
6. THE ROLE OF CO-TEXT
The co-text (= linguistic environment) limits the
range of possible interpretations cf. the cheese
sandwich
But also context (= physical environment) can have
a very powerful impact.
A broken leg came in at 5 am. CONTEXT
A broken leg can be very painful. CO-TEXT
