A power-point about Reference in Pragmatics compiled by me.

1. Leo seemed
to be sleepy
thatmoment
Leo??Ah! Leo!
Yes! He
might be
tired
“Words themselves do
notrefer to anything,
people refer” (Yule)

2. Pragmatics
Reference & Inference

3. REFERENCE
• Referenceisthe words we use to identify things are
in some direct relationshipto those things.
• It isan act in which a speaker, or writer, uses linguistic
forms to enable a listener, or reader, to identify
something (Yule)
• Linguisticforms = referringexpressions.

4. REFERRING EXPRESSION
• Referringexpressionisany expressionused in
utterance to refer to something or someone
• The choice of expressiondepends onwhat the speaker
assumesthe listeneralreadyknows (Yule)
• Referenceis clearlytied to thespeaker’s goals
and beliefs in theuse of language.

5. 1. Proper Nouns
2. Definite Noun
Phrases
3. IndenfiniteNoun
Phrases
4. Pronouns
4 Categories of
Referring
Expressions

6. 1. Proper Nouns
Raja Ampat Zahraa
2. Definite Noun Phrases
The Archipelago The student

7. 3. IndenfiniteNoun Phrases
A place A women
It
4. Pronouns
She, her

8. • IndefiniteNP = ‘a’ can be replaced by ‘any’
Examples:
a) There's a man waitingforyou
(a man=anyman)
b) He wants to marry a woman withlots of money
(a woman=anywoman)
c) We'd love to finda nine-foot-tallbasketball player
(a = any)
Yule: "not allreferring expressions have identifiable physical referents. ".
ATTRIBUTIVEAND REFERENTIALUSES
a physicallypresent entity
exist but unknown
doesn’t exist

9. • ‘whoever/whatever fits the description’
• Definite nounphrase= ‘the’ is assumed toexist, butcannot
be ensure yet.
e.g. There was nosign of the killer
The killer= Whoever did the killing
(A reporter is reportinga mysteriousdeath)
ATTRIBUTIVEUSE

10. REFERENTIAL USE
• IndefiniteNP = A specific person is referred to, althoughhis/her
nameor some otherdescription is not used.
• e.g.Hewants to marry a womanwith lots of money.
(more interested to use a woman with lots of money than a name)
• DefiniteNP,‘the’ = shows thata referent does exist. e.g. There was
no sign of the killer.
(in a news, a person’s identifiedto murder, chased into a building,
but escaped)

11. For successful reference to
occur, we must also
recognize the role of
inference.

12. INFERENCE
• Inferringisconnecting priorknowledge to text based
informationto create meaning beyond what is directly
stated.
• An inferenceis any additionalinformationused by the
listenerto connect whatis saidto whatmust be meant.
(Yule)
• The role of inference in communicationis toallow
the listenerto identifycorrectly whichparticularentity
the speaker is referring to.

13. REFERENCE & INFERENCE
Reference
• “Mr. Kawasaki.”
• Used to refer to a manwho
always rode loud and fastin
his motorcycle.
• A brand nameis used to
refer to a person
Inference
• “I enjoylisteningto
Mozart.”
• the hearer has to infer that
thenameof Musician
’Mozart’ can be used to
identifySong

14. NAME& REFERENTS
• Pragmatic connectionbetweenproper namesand objects
thatwill be conventionallyassociated withina socio culturally
defined communitywiththose names.
• It is conventionbetweenall members of a communitywho
share common language/culture
• Conventions may differ from one social group to another
Name = Word = Reference Referent=Entity= Object

15. A Collage
Can I
borrow
your Yule?
Yeah, it is
over there.
Reference
Proper Name
Refering Expression
Referent
Yule ≠ A writer name
Yule = A book writen
by Yule
(things the writer produced)

16. ReferenceVsReferent
• Referenceisthe words we use to identify things are
in some direct relationship to those things.
• Referentis whata word or symbol standsfor.
• It isthe concrete thing (the personor thing) thata
word or expressionrefers to.
–An actualchair would be the referentof theword chair.

17. Speakers ----- reference ----- intention
(intention-to-identify)
THREE-DIMENSIONALDIAGRAM
Listeners ----- inference -----interpret
(recognition-of-intention)
words/phrases

18. Germanywins World Cup
A soccer team
A Country
A Government
A number of possiblereferents
(Yule)

19. • The abilityto identifyintendedreferents depend on
two environments:
–The linguisticmaterial of the environment (Co-
text)
–The Physicalenvironment (Context)

20. Japan A Government
A Country or A soccer team
• Linguisticmaterialofthe environment in which a
referring expressionis used (Yule)
• The words accompanyingrefferring expression
• It limitsthe range of possibleinterpretation
Japanwins firstroundof trade talk

21. • It is aphysical environment or (speech) conventions
–The heart-attackmustn’t bemoved
–The heart-attack= thepatientsufferedheart-attack
• The context must be ‘a hospital’ in which the nurses
identified patient by the name of the illness.
• The convention may differ from one social group to
another.
• Thus, reference is also about social act
An illness

22. –The CheeseSandwich is made with whitebread
–The CheeseSandwichleftwithoutpaying
Food
= theperson ordered theSandwich
The context mustbe ‘a restaurant’ in which thewaiter
identifiedbuyer by thename of thefood ordered
Person

23. How about in more than one Sentence?
“In the film,a man and a woman were trying
to wash a cat. The man was holdingthe cat
while the woman pouredwater on it. He
said something to her and they started
laughing”

24. • “In thefilm,a manand a womanwere trying to wash a cat.
Initial/Introductory Reference= ANTECEDENT
The manwas holdingthe cat whilethe woman poured water on
it. Hesaid somethingto her and theystarted laughing”
• It is a process of continuingto identify exactly the same entityas
denoted by ANTECEDENT.(Yule)

25. ANTECEDENT&ANAPHORA/ANAPHOR
a man;a woman;a cat
ANTECEDENT
oftenIndefiniteNP
the man;the woman;the cat
he; her; it; they
 ANAPHORA
oftendefinite NP or Pronoun
Subsequent
Reference
InitialReference

26. • It is subsequent reference to already introduced
referents.
• It needsnot be exactly identicalto antecedent.
“Peel andslice sixpotatoes.Putthem in cold salted
water”
Them= the six peeledand sliced potatoes

27. • The reversal of antecedent-anaphorapattern
• If an anaphora(in thiscase = it)come firstand
antecedentcome next.
• Butitis much lesscommon than ANAPHORA
“I turnedthe corner and almost stepped on it.
There was a large snakes in the middle of the path”.

28. Cook ?   = was omitted=[the slices/them]
Ellipsis = Cook [the peeled onionslices]
• When the interpretationrequires us to identifyan entity,
and nolinguistic expressionispresented.
• It frequently uses verbal anaphora
“Peel an Onionand Sliceit. Drop the slices intohot
oil.Cook for three minutes”

29. • The connectionbetween referent antecedentand
anaphoramay notalwaysbe direct
• e.g. The busCame on time, buthe didn’tstop.
(The bus and he are notgramaticalagreement)
But(The bus has a driver)
‘he’ refers to the bus driver

30. Rizaln Syifa
Pragmatic reference is
more being
Communicated than
said