Reference and Inference - ITIS Cannizzaro Coll..PPTVIP

* Yule: “Words themselves do not refer to anything, people refer” Pragmatics: Reference and inference Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. Linguistic forms are referring expressions. Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. These linguistic forms are called referring expressions. They can be: proper nouns: ‘Brasília’ ‘Bill Clinton ’ Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. These linguistic forms are called referring expressions. They can be: (b) noun phrases (definite): ‘The city’ ‘The ex-president’ Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. These linguistic forms are called referring expressions. They can be: (c) noun phrases (indefinite): ‘A place’ ‘A man’ Reference is an act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify something. These linguistic forms are called referring expressions. They can be: (d) pronouns: ‘It’ ‘He, him’ The choice of one type of referring expression rather than another seems to be based, to a large extent, on what the speaker assumes the listener already knows. Reference is clearly tied to the speaker’s goals and? beliefs in the use of language. Yule: it is important to recognize that not all referring expressions have identifiable physical referents. Indefinite noun phrases can be used to identify a physically present entity,? but they can also be used to? describe entities that are assumed to exist, but are unknown, or entities