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ING218 Reference

This document discusses referents and referring expressions. It distinguishes between referring expressions, referents, and ways of referring. Referring expressions are used to identify referents, but the identification may only be temporary and not always accurate. There are different types of referents including concrete and abstract, unique and non-unique, and countable and non-countable. Referring can occur through generic and non-generic reference, specific and non-specific reference, and definite and indefinite reference. The document also discusses deixis, anaphora, metonymy, and referential ambiguity.

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32 views

ING218 Reference

This document discusses referents and referring expressions. It distinguishes between referring expressions, referents, and ways of referring. Referring expressions are used to identify referents, but the identification may only be temporary and not always accurate. There are different types of referents including concrete and abstract, unique and non-unique, and countable and non-countable. Referring can occur through generic and non-generic reference, specific and non-specific reference, and definite and indefinite reference. The document also discusses deixis, anaphora, metonymy, and referential ambiguity.

Uploaded by

afandena256
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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11/10/2012

Today we are going to discuss


ING218 about
 Referents and referring
expressions
Week 10  Extension and intension

Reference  Some different kinds of referents


 Different ways of referring
 Deixis
 Anaphora
Siti Mahripah, M.App.Ling  Shifts in ways of referring
 Referential ambiguity

We need to distinguish three terms:


referring expression, referent, and way
of referring.

Read your reference book p. 130

Referent and referring expression Referent and referring expression

Consider these sentences:


1.A referring expression is not a referent.
1. Howard is your cousin, isn’t he? 2.There is no natural connection between
2. Howard is your cousin’s name, referring expression and referent.
isn’t it? 3.The existence of a referring expression
does not guarantee the existence of a
referent in the physical-social world that
we inhabit.

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11/10/2012

Referent and referring expression Metonymy

is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a


thing or concept is not called by its own name, but
4. Two or more referring expressions may by the name of something intimately associated
have the same referent, but they do not with that thing or concept. Metonyms can be either
necessarily have the same meaning. real or fictional concepts representing other
5. A referring expression is used to identify, concepts real or fictional, but they must serve as an
effective and widely understood second name for
but the identification may be valid only
what they represent.
temporarily (The girl in the purple
sweater) and it need not be true.

Extension Vs Intension

For instance, "Hollywood" is used as a


metonym (an instance of metonymy) for
US cinema, because of the fame and
cultural identity of Hollywood, a district of
the city of Los Angeles, California as the
historical center of movie studios and movie
stars.

Extension Vs Intension

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Some different kinds of referents:

 Concrete >< abstract


 Unique >< Non-unique
 Countable >< Non-countable

Read your reference group p.135-138

Different Ways of referring Deixis


1. Generic and non-generic reference The most primitive way of referring to
something is to point to it.
2. Specific and non-specific reference
3. Definite and indefinite reference

Anaphora

page 145-147.

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Referential ambiguity Referential ambiguity

This occurs when

Referential ambiguity

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