Reference

Uses of NPs

"Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, declared for him: and even Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canterbury, found it advisable--"'

'Found what?' said the Duck.

'Found it,' the Mouse replied rather crossly: 'of course you know what "it" means.'

'I know what "it" means well enough, when I find a thing,' said the Duck: 'it's generally a frog or a worm. The question is, what did the archbishop find?'

Referential NPs

• Referring expression, referent, co-reference, antecedent, anaphor
• Definite: reference to something "known"
  1. We're going to have to talk to him.
  2. We're going to have to talk to that guy.
  3. We're going to have to talk to your boss.
  4. We're going to have to talk to Phil.
  5. We're going to have to talk to the hoodlum who lives next door.
  6. I've never been to your place before. Can you tell me where the bathroom is?
• Indefinite: introduction of something "new"
  1. There's a red car coming.
  2. Alice is married to a hoodlum.
  3. There's this woman I see on the bus every day that I think I know.
  .

Generic

1. Hoodlums are found in every society.
2. The hoodlum is not an endangered species.
3. A hoodlum can cause a lot of trouble in class.

Non-referential

• Definite attributive
  1. I'd like to get my hands on the hoodlum who did this to my car. (ambiguous)
• Indefinite non-specific
  1. Paula wants to marry a hoodlum. (ambiguous)
  2. Don't you have a bathroom in this place?
• Indefinite predicative
  1. George is a hoodlum.

Coreference chains

The chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's campaign to become the Democratic Party's candidate for the US presidency has resigned. Mark Penn stepped down after a row over a potential conflict of interest involving his public relations firm. Mr Penn's company had been employed by the Colombian government to help it pursue a free-trade agreement with the US - a deal Mrs Clinton opposes. (BBC News, 2008-04-06)

• the chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's campaign to become the Democratic Party's candidate for the US presidency; Mark Penn; his; Mr Penn's
• Hillary Clinton's; Mrs Clinton
• a row
• a potential conflict of interest
• his public relations firm; Mr Penn's company
• the Colombian government; it
• a free-trade agreement; a deal Mrs Clinton opposes
• the US

Information status

• The givenness hierarchy (Gundel); the form a speaker uses to refer reflects supposed accessibility of referent for addressee: in focus (it) > activated (that, this, this N) > familiar (that N) > uniquely identifiable (the N) > type identifiable (a N; (indefinite) this N)
• Accessibility and length of referring expression
  • the customer who left the big tip; the customer; her
  • Lois Lane; Lane; Lois

Coreference and discourse coherence

• Sentences (and larger discourse units) in a coherent discourse are related by a small set of explicit or implict coherence relations, such as Explanation, Result, Parallelism, Elaboration
• Coreference interacts with coherence relations
  • Lois voted for Claire. She was obviously the better candidate.
  • Lois voted for Claire. She would later regret her decision.
  • Lois voted for Claire. She loathed her opponent.
  • Lois voted for Claire. She had eggs for breakfast.

© 2008. Indiana University and Michael Gasser. www.cs.indiana.edu/classes/B651/reference.html 2008-04-07