Referential Shift Research Articles

Effect of evaluative expressions on two types of demonstrative pronouns in German

We propose a unified prominence-based account of the two paradigms of demonstrative pronouns in German: the die- and diese-paradigm. The two types of demonstrative pronouns have been shown to have similar referential preferences — avoiding the most prominent referent — but different language register and modality preferences — diese pronouns prefer formal language whereas die pronouns prefer informal language and the spoken modality. They also reveal different strengths in terms of referential shift and last-mentioned antecedent preference. We propose that the perspectival prominence-based account initially proposed by Hinterwimmer & Bosch (2016; 2017) for die pronouns can be extended to incorporate both demonstrative pronouns. Our extended proposal suggests that the perspectivally prominent discourse referent is the highest ranked element on the prominence scale only for die pronouns but not for diese pronouns, and that perspectival prominence can be modulated by evaluative expressions. For diese pronouns, on the other hand, the aboutness topic is the highest ranked discourse referent on the prominence scale and they are not influenced by evaluative expressions. We report two experiments to test our account. The experimental results largely support the predictions of the new unified account. 

Variable First Person Singular Subject Expression in Spoken Valencian Catalan

In this paper, I analyze first person singular subject pronoun expression in spoken Valencian Catalan varieties. I present a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 7 interviews from the corpus Parlars, examining 1sg subject rates regarding tense markings (syncretic vs. non-syncretic forms), verb type, and discourse type (monologues vs. conversations). It will be shown that the factor of morphological syncretism as well as verb type influence 1sg subject expression rates. Differently from what has been observed in some previous studies on Spanish, cognitive verbs are not associated with particularly high 1sg subject expression rates, but verbs of saying are. Looking at frequent verb forms in the spoken interviews, it will be shown that (jo) dic ‘(I) say’ plays an important role, direct speech being a commonly used mechanism in the data examined here. Furthermore, discourse type (monologue vs. conversation) affects subject expression rates. These results suggest that 1sg subject expression is influenced by an interaction of verb morphology, verb type and specific verb forms, but that subject expression rates and the factors influencing them vary depending on particular pro-drop varieties, discourse types and the type of data. Looking at the contexts in which the strong pronoun jo ‘I’ is used with verbs of saying in spoken Valencian Catalan, I argue that subject expression triggers a perspectival, rather than referential shift in several cases.

Лингвопрагматические сдвиги в новейшей поэзии: русско-американские параллели

The paper dwells upon the language and discourse processes in contemporary Russian and American poetry which focuses on “reformatting” the communicative situation coordinates under the influence of ordinary speech and the new media. The research suggests a linguo-pragmatic analysis of three Russian-American poetic vectors that characterize different strategies of subjectification, such as Gennady Aygi — Michael Palmer, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko — Barrett Watten, and Rachel Blau DuPlessis — Nika Skandiaka. These poetic practices manifest themselves in constructing a new communicative situation based on a referential shift along the lines of interiorization — exteriorization. Elaborating on this shift, we explore the interaction between inner speech, ordinary and poetic language, as well as the links between a poetic text and external (media)context. The unusual usage of pragmatic markers forms a new “poetic interface” and indicates the “transcoding” of the poetic subject in the coordinates of the actual communicative situation. Aygi and Palmer create different modes of poetic interface as a zone of active interaction between the addresser and the addressee, as well as inner speech, ordinary, and poetic language. In Dragomoshchenko’s and Watten’s poems, the “transcoding” of the subject manifests itself in various deictic shifts that mark complex relations of the subject with reality and language. The use of “graphic deixis” in DuPlessis’ and Skanidaka’s texts is informed by the impact of the Internet as a need to update the poetic statement in a new media-communicative situation.

The emergence of referential shift devices in three young sign languages

Speakers use a range of devices, such as nouns and pronouns, to introduce referents and to indicate a shift between multiple referents. Sign languages also exploit different devices for signalling reference and referential shift. In established sign languages, the hands convey words and proforms, while the face, head, and body also contribute to the reference system, both mimetically and abstractly. Here we investigate how a system of referential shift emerges at different points in the development of young languages with varying socio-linguistic characteristics: Israeli Sign Language (large, heterogeneous, geographically dispersed population), Al-Sayyid Bedouin SL, and Kufr Qassem SL (smaller, homogeneous village/town settings). Early on, signers favor both lexical symbols and mimetic use of the body for shifting reference. Over time, more abstract structures with more simultaneous complexity increase. These factors interact with characteristics of the language community, suggesting a role for the amount and type of interaction in the emergence of reference in language.

Files for Fiction

In this essay, I appeal to the mental file approach in order to give an anti-realist semantic analysis of statements containing fictional names. I claim that fictive and parafictive uses of them express conceptual, though not general, propositions constituted by mental files, anchored in the conceptual world of the corresponding fictional story. Moreover, by positing a referential shift determined by the presence of a simulative referential intention characteristic of those uses, it is possible to take them to be true with respect to those conceptual worlds. As for metafictive uses, since they are grounded on mixed intentions, they are considered to express hybrid propositions, partly conceptual and partly referential.

A estrutura genética das entificações comunitárias

Thinkers of Heideggerian tradition such as Jean-Luc Nancy and Roberto Esposito, through concepts such as being-in-common and communitas, suggest a fundamental ontology of community (Mitsein). This ontology, however, has generated a difficulty of interpretation and operation due to the hegemonic subjectivist paradigm that anticipates the reading of these concepts. This article aims to redescribe this ontology from a referential shift: from the Heideggerian metaphysical universe to the field of “absolute immanence” (Deleuze). This shift allows structuralizing and conferring operational communication to that ontology, as well as observing new political phenomena, such as those made possible by today’s technical communication devices.

Referential shift in Nicaraguan Sign Language: a transition from lexical to spatial devices.

Even the simplest narratives combine multiple strands of information, integrating different characters and their actions by expressing multiple perspectives of events. We examined the emergence of referential shift devices, which indicate changes among these perspectives, in Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). Sign languages, like spoken languages, mark referential shift grammatically with a shift in deictic perspective. In addition, sign languages can mark the shift with a point or a movement of the body to a specified spatial location in the three-dimensional space in front of the signer, capitalizing on the spatial affordances of the manual modality. We asked whether the use of space to mark referential shift emerges early in a new sign language by comparing the first two age cohorts of deaf signers of NSL. Eight first-cohort signers and 10 second-cohort signers watched video vignettes and described them in NSL. Narratives were coded for lexical (use of words) and spatial (use of signing space) devices. Although the cohorts did not differ significantly in the number of perspectives represented, second-cohort signers used referential shift devices to explicitly mark a shift in perspective in more of their narratives. Furthermore, while there was no significant difference between cohorts in the use of non-spatial, lexical devices, there was a difference in spatial devices, with second-cohort signers using them in significantly more of their narratives. This suggests that spatial devices have only recently increased as systematic markers of referential shift. Spatial referential shift devices may have emerged more slowly because they depend on the establishment of fundamental spatial conventions in the language. While the modality of sign languages can ultimately engender the syntactic use of three-dimensional space, we propose that a language must first develop systematic spatial distinctions before harnessing space for grammatical functions.

Atypical signed language development: A case study of challenges with visual–spatial processing

In signed languages, the articulatory space in front of the signer is used grammatically, topographically, and to depict a real or imagined space around a signer and thus is an important consideration in signed language acquisition. It has been suggested that children who acquire signed languages rely on concomitant visual–spatial development to support their linguistic development. We consider the case of a native-signing deaf adolescent female with average intelligence who had been reported to struggle with spatial aspects of American Sign Language (ASL) as a child. Results of a battery of linguistic and nonlinguistic tests suggest that she has relatively good ASL skills with the exception of some specific difficulties on spatial tasks that require attention to ASL and nonlinguistic topographic space or changes in visual perspective (e.g., classifiers and referential shift). This child has some difficulties with visual–spatial abilities, and we suggest that this has affected her acquisition of those aspects of ASL that are heavily dependent on visual–spatial processing.

Metonymy without a referential shift

Metonymy without a referential shift

Dubbings-in-Trouble

Abstract Pelczar and Rainsbury advance a theory of proper names which purports, inter alia, to implement Kripke’s causal theory of name reference in order to explain reference change. The key tool for accomplishing this is the notion of a dubbing-in-force. In this paper I aim to show that this special appeal to dubbings does not sustain any real advance over Kripke’s account at least with respect to the problem of inadvertent referential shift. I argue that this theory has not offered any theory of reference transmission, which I take as a precondition for explaining the problem of reference change, and that the notion of a dubbing-in-force is unnecessary for name reference.

Contar a los indígenas en Chile: Autoadscripción étnica en la experiencia censal de 1992 y 2002

This article analysis the subjective ethnic self-ascription of indigenous populations in Chile by considering the census processes of 1992 and 2002, the institutional action behind the definition and operation of ethnic records, and ethnographic information. We argue that in both census processes, which were based on self-ascribed concepts of “culture” and “people”, respectively, heterogeneous and ever-transforming perceptions and collective identifications are made evident. An interpretation of this issue is drawn from the highly diverse socio-historic shaping of identifications and senses of collective belonging that characterize the indigenous populations in the country. In addition, we consider the sudden changes on conscience and the valuation of cultural difference between both census processes. Equally important is the referential shift from culture to people since, in terms of self-ascription, the later concept is semantically more restrictive than the former. One of the most relevant implications of this analysis lies in the fact that the premise of a direct relationship between ethnic self-ascription and objective biographic basis is only partially fulfilled. Thus, the weakness of official procedures to “count Indians” in Chile is made evident.

Spatial perspective choice in ASL

Two studies investigated the ramifications of encoding spatial locations via signing space for perspective choice in American Sign Language. Deaf signers (“speakers”) described the location of one of two identical objects either to a present addressee or to a remote addressee via a video monitor. Unlike what has been found for English speakers, ASL signers did not adopt their addressee’s spatial perspective when describing locations in a jointly viewed present environment; rather, they produced spatial descriptions utilizing shared space in which classifier and deictic signs were articulated at locations in signing space that schematically mapped to both the speaker’s and addressee’s view of object locations within the (imagined) environment. When the speaker and addressee were not jointly viewing the environment, speakers either adopted their addressee’s perspective via referential shift (i.e. locations in signing space were described as if the speaker were the addressee) or speakers expressed locations from their own perspective by describing locations from their view of a map of the environment and the addressee’s position within that environment. The results highlight crucial distinctions between the nature of perspective choice in signed languages in which signing space is used to convey spatial information and spoken languages in which spatial information is conveyed by lexical spatial terms. English speakers predominantly reduce their addressee’s cognitive load by adopting their addressee’s perspective, whereas in ASL shared space can be used (there is no true addressee or speaker perspective) and in other contexts, reversing speaker perspective is common in ASL and does not increase the addressee’s cognitive load.