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Referring Expression (referring + expression)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences66%

Selected Abstracts

Anomia for people's names, a restricted form of transient epileptic amnesia

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 6 2003
F. Ghika-Schmid
A 37-year-old man consulted after two episodes of transient anomia for people's names over a period of 6 months. The first episode lasted about 10 min and was restricted to an inability to remember his 2-year-old son's first name. The second, was limited to an inability to recall his daughter's first name for 5 min with clear abnormal experiential quality. Witnessed descriptions of the attacks confirmed the absence of any other cognitive impairment or motor automatisms. The neurological examination was normal except for hyposmia. Inter-ictal cognitive evaluation was normal apart from the anomia for people's names or retrieval of names of familiar people in his childhood on definition and on famous faces naming test. A wake electroencephalograph showed left temporal epileptiform abnormalities, following hyperpnea. On magnetic resonance imaging, quantitative analysis revealed a mildly decreased volume of the left hippocampus. The diagnosis of transient epileptic amnesia (TEA) was considered and the patient did not recur for 6 months under lamotriginum. Thus anomia for people's names may be the sole clinical manifestation of TEA. Such a clinical presentation may easily be overlooked. Treatment may prevent further recurrence and the installation of more important and permanent autobiographical memory impairment. Our observation may suggest an isolated system not only for people's knowledge, but for people's naming. It is consistent with the notion of proper name as pure referring expression. [source]

On the framing of one kind of indefinite referring expression: learning challenges and pedagogical implications

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 2 2002
Asha Tickoo
The paper shows that two key principles of communication (the Shared Knowledge Principle and the Economy Principle), which monitor the framing of all well-formed referring expressions, are manifest in a specialized mode in the framing of focal specific indefinite referring expressions. It is suggested that the special features associated with this type of reference pose a challenge for a group of advanced learners whose L1 is Cantonese. The strategies that these learners adopt in framing this category of indefinite referring expressions are examined and compared to those customarily used by educated native speakers. Pedagogical implications are explored. [source]

A Strictly Millian Approach to the Definition of the Proper Name

MIND & LANGUAGE, Issue 4 2009
RICHARD COATES
A strictly Millian approach to proper names is defended, i.e. one in which expressions when used properly (,onymically') refer directly, i.e. without the semantic intermediaryship of the words that appear to comprise them. The approach may appear self-evident for names which appear to have no component parts (in current English) but less so for others. Two modes of reference are distinguished for potentially ambiguous expressions such as The Long Island. A consequence of this distinction is to allow a speculative neurolinguistics of proper (,onymic') and semantic (,non-onymic') reference. A further consequence is that translation of onymically referring expressions is impossible (since they have no semantic content), and some apparently self-evident objections to this view are met by insisting on a distinction between a proper name as a referring expression and its etymology. The nature of the linguistic mechanism(s) by which an expression becomes proper (i.e. loses sense) shows that etymological opacity is a precondition for the survival of words in certain proper names, furnishing evidence for reference without sense. The process of becoming proper amounts to abrogation of sense for the purpose of reference, which is precisely the requirement for a systematic defence of Mill. [source]

On the framing of one kind of indefinite referring expression: learning challenges and pedagogical implications

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 2 2002
Asha Tickoo
The paper shows that two key principles of communication (the Shared Knowledge Principle and the Economy Principle), which monitor the framing of all well-formed referring expressions, are manifest in a specialized mode in the framing of focal specific indefinite referring expressions. It is suggested that the special features associated with this type of reference pose a challenge for a group of advanced learners whose L1 is Cantonese. The strategies that these learners adopt in framing this category of indefinite referring expressions are examined and compared to those customarily used by educated native speakers. Pedagogical implications are explored. [source]

A Strictly Millian Approach to the Definition of the Proper Name

MIND & LANGUAGE, Issue 4 2009
RICHARD COATES
A strictly Millian approach to proper names is defended, i.e. one in which expressions when used properly (,onymically') refer directly, i.e. without the semantic intermediaryship of the words that appear to comprise them. The approach may appear self-evident for names which appear to have no component parts (in current English) but less so for others. Two modes of reference are distinguished for potentially ambiguous expressions such as The Long Island. A consequence of this distinction is to allow a speculative neurolinguistics of proper (,onymic') and semantic (,non-onymic') reference. A further consequence is that translation of onymically referring expressions is impossible (since they have no semantic content), and some apparently self-evident objections to this view are met by insisting on a distinction between a proper name as a referring expression and its etymology. The nature of the linguistic mechanism(s) by which an expression becomes proper (i.e. loses sense) shows that etymological opacity is a precondition for the survival of words in certain proper names, furnishing evidence for reference without sense. The process of becoming proper amounts to abrogation of sense for the purpose of reference, which is precisely the requirement for a systematic defence of Mill. [source]

Real-Time Investigation of Referential Domains in Unscripted Conversation: A Targeted Language Game Approach

COGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 4 2008
Sarah Brown-Schmidt
Abstract Two experiments examined the restriction of referential domains during unscripted conversation by analyzing the modification and online interpretation of referring expressions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that from the earliest moments of processing, addressees interpreted referring expressions with respect to referential domains constrained by the conversation. Analysis of eye movements during the conversation showed elimination of standard competition effects seen with scripted language. Results from Experiment 2 pinpointed two pragmatic factors responsible for restriction of the referential domains used by speakers to design referential expressions and demonstrated that the same factors predict whether addressees consider local competitors to be potential referents during online interpretation of the same expressions. These experiments demonstrate, for the first time, that online interpretation of referring expressions in conversation is facilitated by referential domains constrained by pragmatic factors that predict when addressees are likely to encounter temporary ambiguity in language processing. [source]