ling 124; mini paper

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University of California, Santa Barbara *

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124

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Linguistics

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Oct 30, 2023

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pdf

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1 Du Bois Ling 124 13 February 2023 Reference and Accessibility Intro: After analyzing show two and three we have learned that “decisions about referential forms stem from both discourse and cognitive resources” (Arnold 197.) Discourse and cognitive resources affect the speakers accessibility and identifiability. Identifiable referents give the quality of being identified between the speaker and listener, while accessible referents refers to the amount of cognitive effort it takes to think of something. Today we will examine the key differences between the affects accessibility and identifiability have on discourse as we use light and heavy forms as an example. Findings/analysis: In order to achieve successful conversations, the speaker and listener (addressee) must be able to understand each others’ referential expressions. The process is achieved through the accessibility of referents. Discourse properties confer accessibility through givenness (already evoked), recency (mentioned recently), and thematic/syntactic prominence (sentence structure.) It does not only refer to its position in discourse properties but how they are accessible to the addressee through topicality, predictability (expectancy), and attention. Topicality refers to the notion that sentences focus on one thing more than the other thus creating the “topic” to be the center of attention. “The idea of topic appears in Centering as what they call the backward-looking center (Cb). This is the referential expression that refers to

2 something from the previous clause, thereby connecting backward with the previous discourse” (Arnold 192.) The Cb becomes the highest ranking entity and those that come after would be Cf which refers to any entity mentioned after the Cb. “Expectancy” refers to the likelihood of a mention in the current utterance while “attention” refers to participants paying attention. Example: Previously they were discussing two girls addressing one as la nina or la muchacha. However, in the new conversation speaker A still refers to the girl as “la muchacha.” Speaker A assumes speaker B has been paying attention to the “topic.” As the topic is “la muchacha” we can see a backward-looking center in play. This is because the “la muchacha” has become the highest ranked entity allowing the listener to follow along. This allows for the referent to be accessible to the listener. Now for Identifiability, it indicates whether or not the referent is identifiable between the speaker and addressee. Speakers use the formal contrast between indefinite and definite noun phrases to express identifiability because “Speakers normally use Definite N.P when they can

3 assume that the addressee can identify the referent…if they assume they cannot then an indefinite N.P will be used” (Laury 403.) A speaker may assume definiteness because of previous mention, presence in the environment, or (in)direct shared knowledge. Identifiability also works to build reference and alter context. We understand there is a socially shared reality because the noun (Sandy) is preceded by definite determiners (“la” “sus”) . The use of determiners; demonstratives, possessives, and articles do not make a noun phrase definite but they are often used to begin definite noun phrases. As speaker A says “la Sandy” and the listener then uses “sus” we see how they are following the same topic without further question of who the conversation pertains to, this indicates they share a common knowledge of “sandy.” In identifiability, referents give the quality of being identified between the speaker and listener, while accessibility refers to the amount of cognitive effort to think of something.

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