Chapter-3-Reference-and-inference

CHAPTER3REFERENCEANDINFERENCEKeyPointsreferenceinferenceco-textandcontextanaphoricreferenceReferenceandinferenceFromspeakers’pointofviewintentiontobeidentifiedFromlisteners’pointofviewidentificationofintentioncollaborationReferenceWordsthemselvesdon’trefertoanything.Peoplerefer.Wemightbestthinkofreferenceasanactinwhichaspeaker,orwriter,useslinguisticsformstoenablealistener,orreader,toidentifysomething.reference(anact)referentialexpression…………….referentspeakerconveysintentionlisteneridentifiesReferenceAttributiveuse:noactualreferent,whoever,whatever.E.g.fairy,SantaClause…Hewantstomarryawomanwithlotsofmoney.We’dlovetofindanine-foot-tallbasketballplayer.Referentialuse:actuallysb/sthinmind.Therewasnosignofthekiller.a)attributiveuse:Therewasakiller,butwedon’tknowwhoeverdidthekilling.b)referentialuse:Aparticularindividualhadbeenidentifiedashavingdonethekillingandhadbeenchasedintoabuildingbutescaped.InferenceForsuccessfulreferencetooccur,wemustalsorecognizetheroleofinference.Becausethereisnodirectrelationshipbetweenentitiesandwords,thelistener’staskistoinfercorrectlywhichentitythespeakerintendstoidentifybyusingaparticularreferringexpression.Namesandreferent:Usingapropernamereferentiallytoidentityanysuchobjectinvitesthelistenertomaketheexpectedinference.Thatisapragmaticviewofreference.Inferencea.CanIborrowyourShakespeare?b.Yeah,it’soverthereonthetable.a.Where’sthecheesesandwichsitting?b.He’sovertherebythewindow.ThenewMozartisbettervaluethantheBach.MyRollingStonesismissing.Co-textItisalinguisticpartoftheenvironmentinwhichareferringexpressionisused.(Thewordsorsentencescomebeforeoraftertheparticularwordorsentence.)context:Thephysicalenvironmentismoreeasilyrecognizedashavingapowerfulimpactonhowreferringexpressionsaretobeinterpreted.e.g.a.Theheart-attackmustn’tbemoved.(inhospital)b.Yourten-thirtyjustcancelled.(adentist’soffice)c.Acoupleofroomshavecomplainedabouttheheat.(ahotelreception)Anaphoricreference(回指）Aftertheinitialintroductionofsomeentity,speakerswillusevariousexpressionstomaintainreference.Suchsubsequentexpressionistheanaphorandtheinitialexpressionistheantecedent.cataphora(反回指)：areversaloftheantecedent-anaphorpattern.e.g.Iturnedthecornerandalmoststeppedonit,Therewasalargesnakeinthemiddleofthepath.Anaphoricreferencezeroanaphora,orellipsise.g.Peelanonionandsliceit.Droptheslicesintohotoil.Cook(…)forthreeminutes.Successfulreferencedoesnotdependonsomestrictlyliteral,orgrammatically“correct”relationhshipbetweenthepropertiesofthereferentandthereferentandthereferringexpressionchosen.ExercisesThelistenerisalsoexpectedtomakemorespecifictypesofinferencewhentheanaphoricexpressionsdon’tseemtobelinguisticallyconnectedtotheirantecedents.Makesenseofthefollowingsentences.a.Ijustrentedahouse,Thekitchenisreallybig.b.WehadChardonnaywithdinner.Thewinewasthebestpart.c.Thebuscameontime,buthedidn’tstop.THEEND