A Brief Introduction of the Relationship between Reference and Inference

【Abstract】Pragmatics is concerned with the study of context-dependent aspects of meaning， which are encoded in various uses of language. In this paper mainly introduce reference and inference. And the author explain the relationship between reference and inference to improve the understanding about pragmatics. And this paper will provide a brief understanding to pragmatic researchers.

【Key words】reference； inference； pragmatics

【摘要】語用学研究的是语境依赖意义的研究，它在语言的多种用途中被编码。本文主要介绍了指称和推理。并解释了指称和推理之间的关系来促进对语用学的理解。本文将对语用学研究者提供了关于指称和推理的简单的理解。

【关键词】指称；推理；语用学

【作者简介】海霞，内蒙古师范大学。

I. Refernce and Inference

There is a hypothesis that using words to refer to people and things is a relatively simple problem. We do know that the word itself does not mean anything.

1.Definition：

Reference is an act in which we can use linguistic forms so that listeners or readers can identify something. These linguistic forms are referring expressions， which can be proper nouns and noun phrases. They are definite or uncertain. Choosing a type of reference expression instead of another that seems to be based on what the speaker assumes is already known by the audience. In shared visual context， those pronouns that act as indicative expressions.

2.Referential and attributive uses

It is important to recognize that not all reference expressions have a recognizable physical reference. Indefinite noun phrases can be used to describe entities that are assumed to exist， but are unknown or entity dosent exist in [1b]. [2a] theres a man waiting for you. [2B]. He wants to marry a rich woman. In [2B]， the expression of “a rich woman” can specify an entity， only because of the perscriptive properties of the speaker. In this case， the word “A” can be replaced by “arbitrary”. This is sometimes referred to as attributive usage， which means “who / what is suitable for description”. This will be used from a reference， I actually have a person in mind， rather than using her name or other description.

3. Names and Referent

The version of reference being presented here are ‘intention-to-identify and “recognition-of-intention collaboration at work”. This process requires not only custom， but also the work of all members of a community with a common language and culture. That is to say， there is a convention that certain reference expressions will be used to identify certain entities on a regular basis. This is the successful operation of our daily experience. This Convention may lead us to think that the referential expression can only specify very specific entities. This hypothesis may allow us to think that a name or proper noun， like “Shakespeare”， can only be used to identify a particular person， an expression containing a common noun， such as a “cheese sandwich”， which can only be used to identify a particular thing.

This belief is wrong. A really pragmatic view of reference allows us to see a person can be identified by the expression of “cheese sandwich”. One thing can be determined by the name “Shakespeare”. For example， it is strange for a student to ask another question in [3a] and get a reply in [3b]. [3a]May I borrow your Shakespeare？ [3b] Each one is on the table over there. In view of the context that has just been created， the expected reference and inferential reference and inferential reference will not be a person， but it may be a book.

In a sociol and cultural defined community， there seems to be a pragmatic link between names and objects. Using an appropriate name to identify any such object， inviting the listener to make the expected inference， showing that he or she is a member of the same community as the speaker.

II. Conclusion

This paper is mainly concerned with reference and inference. No matter which way they are used， their explanations inevitably involve the speakers intention， which refers to a part of the direct or indirect reference to the expression of the entity. So the relationship between reference and inference has became clearly. Reference refers to the intention is identified from speakers perspectives and inference is identification of intention from listeners position.

References：

[1]George Yule，Pragmatics，2000，[M].Oxford University press.

[2]Jacob L.Mey，Pragmatics：An Introduction，2001[M].外語教学与研究出版社.