Reference and
Inference
This presentation explores the concepts of reference and inference in
linguistics, examining how speakers and listeners use language to
understand and interpret the world around them.
Reference
By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world
(including persons) are being talked about.
Example Referring Expressions
Referring expressions are the
‘My son is in the beech tree’
linguistic forms used to refer
to entities. These can include:
• Proper nouns: Shakespeare
The choice of one type of
referring expression rather than • Indefinite noun phrases: a
another seems to be based, to a man, a beautiful place
large extent, on what the
speaker assumes the listener • Definite noun phrases: the
already knows singer, the island
e.g.: remember him/ the old • Pronouns: he, them, it
foreign guy with the funny hat
Inference
Inference is the process by which the listener interprets the speaker's intended meaning, going beyond the literal meaning of
the words used.
Speaker Listener
The speaker uses referring expressions to indicate the
The listener infers the intended referent based on the
entities being discussed.
referring expression and the context.
Referential/Attributive Use
The way a linguistic form is used can be either referential or attributive.
1 Referential Use 2 Attributive Use
A linguistic form is used to A linguistic form is used to
refer to a specific entity (a designate an entity in terms
person/thing) in mind. of its descriptive
properties.
E.g.: There’s a man waiting for you. E.g.: He wants to marry a
There was no sight of the killer. woman with lots of money
(whoever did the killing) We’d love to find a nine-foot-
tall basketball player
Names/Referents
There appears to be a pragmatic connection between proper names and objects that will be conventionally associated, within
a socio-culturally defined community, with those names Shakespeare can be used to refer to the author or his work.
Example a. Can I borrow your Shakespeare?
b. Yeah, it's over there on the table.
The Role of Co-text
A referring expression provides a range of reference (a number of possible referents). Different co-texts lead to different types of
interpretation.
Example Example
Brazil wins World Cup Japan wins first round of trade talks
The Role of Context
The physical environment/context has a powerful impact on how
referring expressions are to be interpreted.
1 Example 2 Example
The heart attacked mustn’t Your ten-thirty just
be moved (a hospital) cancelled (a dentist’s
office)
3 Example
A couple of rooms have complained about the heat (a hotel
reception)
Anaphora
Anaphora is a process of continuing to identify exactly the same entity as denoted by the antecedent.
Zero Anaphora/Ellipsis
No linguistic expression is present.
E.g.: Drop the slices into hot water.
Cook (?) for three minutes
Example antecedent Typical Forms Example
Peel and slice 6 potatoes. Put Pronouns, definite noun In the film, a man and a woman were trying to
them in cold salted water. phrases wash a cat. The man was holding the cat while
the woman poured water on it.
anaphor
Cataphora
Cataphora is a reversal of the antecedent-anaphor pattern. It is much less common than anaphora.
Example
I turned the corner and almost stepped on it. There was a large snake in the middle of the path.
EXERCISES
Are the following referring expressions? (Imagine normal circumstances for the
utterance.)
(1)a Norwegian, used in ‘Nancy married a Norwegian’
(2)a Norwegian, used in ‘Nancy wants to marry a Norwegian’
(3)a car, used in ‘John is looking for a car’
(4)a man with a limp, used in ‘Dick believes that a man with a limp killed Bo Peep’
(5)a man with a limp, used in ‘A man with a limp killed Bo Peep’
(6)a swan, used in ‘Every evening at sunset a swan flew over the house’
(7)John in ‘John is my best friend’
(8)he in ‘He’s a very polite man’, said by a husband to his wife in a conversation about
their bank manager