chapter 3 reference & inference

REFERENCE &

INFERENCE

PRESENTED TO:

PROF. KASHIF

PRESENTED BY:

SHUMAILA JAN

TAHIRA MUNIR

NOREEN AKHTAR

2

REFERENCE & INFERENCE

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

LAYER 1: SETTING THE BACKGROUND NOREEN AKHTAR

LAYER 2: REFERENCE SHUMAILA JAN

LAYER 3: INFERENCE TAHIRA MUNIR

LAYER 4: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE

TWO NOREEN AKHTAR

• MICROPRAGMATICS

• RELATION WITH REFERENCE

• RELATION WITH INFERENCE

LAYER 1: Setting The

Background

MICROPRAGMATICS

The term 'micropragmatics' is used by some

pragmaticians to refer to the pragmatics of

lesser units of human language use, such as

questions of deixis, REFERENCE, anaphora,

speech acts, in other words micropragmatic

contexts.

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REFERENCE COMES UNDER MICROPRAGMATICS

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF REFERENCES:

DIRECT REFERENCE

Eg. : “Who is it?”

“it‟s George”

INDIRECT REFERENCE

Eg. : “Who is it?”

“It‟s me.”

INFERENCE COMPLETES THE PURPOSE OF REFERENCE

Eg: “If I had a yatch.”

George

me

Reference: Yatch (direct)

Inference: the speaker has no

yatch/

The speaker wishes to have a

yatch.

ACTIVITY:7


LAYER 2: REFERENCE

REFERENCE

According to dictionary .com ,

Reference is a noun which means an act or instance of

referring.

something for which a name or designation

stands; denotation.

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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/refer

There was an assumption that

the use of words to refer to

people and things was a

relatively straightforward

matter.

10


Words themselves don’t refer to

anything. People refer. Clearly tied

to the speaker’s goal.

11


What is reference then?

Reference is an act in which a

speaker, or writer, uses linguistic

forms to enable a listener, or

reader, to identify something.

12


Linguistics forms = Referring

expressions13


Categories of referring

expressions are:14


Proper Nouns

Definite Nouns

Indefinite Nouns

Pronouns

EXAMPLES:

Proper nouns; example:

Shakespeare, Lahore, Nawaz Sharif

Definite nouns; example: the author, the

city, the prime minister

Indefinite nouns; example: a place, a man

Pronoun; example: it , he, she

15


The choice of one type of referring

expression rather than another

seems to be based, to a large

extent, on what the speaker

assumes the listener already

knows.

17


It is important to recognize that not all

referring expressions have identifiable

physical referents.

1. Indefinite noun phrases can be used to

identify a physically present entity,

2. they can also be used to describe entities

that are assumed to exist, but are unknown,

3. or entities that, as far as we know, do not

exist.

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EXAMPLES

a) There’s a man waiting for

you.

b) He wants to marry a woman

with lots of money.

c) We would love to find a nine-

foot-tall basket ball player.

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Attributive Use / Referential Use

A man waiting for you

A woman with lots of money

This is sometimes called an attributive use, meaning 'whoever/whatever fits the description'. It would be distinct from a referential use: a specific person is referred to, although his/her name or some other description is not used.

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Kinds of Reference

Anaphoric reference

Antecedent

Cataphora

Zero anaphora or Ellipsis

Anaphoric Reference and

Antecedent

Example

In the film ,a man and a woman were trying to

wash a cat. The man was holding the cat while

the woman poured the water on it . He said

something to her and they started laughing .

A man a woman and a cat/initial

expression =antecedent

Subsequent expression =anaphor

Cataphora

Example

I truned the corner and almost stepped on

it.there was a large snake in the middle of the

path .

A cataphoric reference unit refers to another

unit that is introduced later on in the

text/speech.

ZERO ANAPHORA

EXAMPLE: Cook for three minutes.

No linguistic expression like noun pronoun etc

POINT TO PONDER…

For successful reference

to occur, we must also

recognize the role of ???

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• DEFINITION

LAYER 3: INFERENCE

Elkhart Community Schools28

“Art is so much more

interesting if everything

isn’t in the picture.

And so it is with inferring.”

From: I Read It But I Don’t Get It ~ Cris Tovani

Elkhart Community Schools29

Inference

Background

KnowledgeMaking

Connections

Questioning

Predictions

Imagination/

Visualization

Analysis of

Text/speech:

Interpretation/

Judgment

Drawing

Conclusions

INFERENCE

Inference is just a big word that means a conclusion or judgment.

You make inferences everyday. Most of the time you do so without thinking about it. Suppose you are sitting in your car stopped at a red signal light. You hear screeching tires, then a loud crash and breaking glass. You see nothing, but you infer that there has been a car accident. We all know the sounds of screeching tires and a crash. We know that these sounds almost alwaysmean a car accident. But there could be some other reason, and therefore another explanation, for the sounds.

Making inferences means choosing the most likely explanation from the facts that referenceprovides.

ACTIVITY

TASK:

DRAW INFERENCES FROM THE TV

COMMERCIAL.

SOCIAL DIMENSION

The social dimension of reference may also be

tied to the effect of collaboration.

The immediate recognition of an intended

referent, even when a minimal referring

expression like a pronoun, represents

something shared, something in common and

hence, social closeness.

Successful reference means that an intention

was recognized, via inference, indicating a

kind of shared knowledge and hence, social

connection.

Example:33


SOCIAL DIMENSION

INTENTION TO IDENTIFY follows

RECOGNITION OF THE INTENTION

Eg. : Q. Can I borrow your Shakespeare?

A. Yeah, it‟s there on the table.

Here, thing and person are being identified on

the base of recognition of the intention.

Social Dimension

Referents are cultural and situation specific

Eg. :

Q. Where is the cheese sandwich sitting?

A. He‟s is over there by the window.

(waiters‟ conversation in a restaurant)

SOCIAL DIMENSION

Works by artists and writers are referred to by

their names.

Eg.

1. Shakespeare takes the whole bottom shelf.

2. Picasso‟s on the far wall.

3. My Rolling Stone is missing.

THE ANAPHORIC

CONNECTION

Anaphoric connection requires inference to

make sense

Eg. : I just rented a house. The kitchen is really

big.

Here, inference is: if x has a house, then x has a

kitchen.

Inference depends on assumed knowledge

Eg. : We had Chardonnay last night. The wine

was the best part.

Here, inference is that Chardonnay is a kind of

wine.

THE ANAPHORIC

CONNECTION----------------------------------------( CONTINUED)

Anaphor and antecedent need not be in

grammatical agreement if the inference is

logically made.

Eg. : The bus came on time, but he didn‟t stop.

Here, „he‟ stands for the bus driver in connection to

the word „bus‟.

DRAW INFERENCE FROM THE

FOLLOWING FUNNY

HEADLINES:

MINERS REFUSE TO WORK AFTER DEATH

BLIND BISHOP APPOINTED TO SEE

MARCH PLANNED FOR NEXT AUGUST

POLICE CAN’T STOP GAMBLING

SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM

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40


Reference is an act in which a speaker, or

writer, uses linguistic forms to enable a

listener, or reader, to identify something.

Inferring is connecting prior knowledge to

text based information to create meaning

beyond what is directly stated.

41


Reference:It is the symbolic relationship that a linguistic

expression has with the concrete object or

abstraction it represent.

Inference:

It is the conclusion you draw from what you have observed.

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EXAMPLE 43


The choice of one type of referring expression

rather than another seems to be based, to a large

extent, on what the speaker assumes the listener

already knows.

Inferring is to conclude / to guess and to understand the situation after observation.

44


“It is important to recognize that not all referring expressions have identifiable physicalreferents. Indefinite noun phrases can be used to identify a physically present entity, but they can also be used to describe entities that are assumed to exist, but are unknown, or entities that, as far as we know, do not exist".

In inference, we must have the object / situation so that we are able to draw conclusion and understanding.

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Examples of Reference:

a) There's a child calling his mom.

b) He wants to get a job with a flat and

car.

c) She wishes to meet the tooth fairy her

mother keeps talking about.

46


Example of Inference:a)You may observe that a person is running

from a shop that may cause you to infer

that he robbed it and is trying to get away.

It is easy to infer incorrectly so we need to

get all the facts.

ACTIVITY48


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ANY QUESTIONS?

PLEASE DRAW SOME

INFERENCES Bill was reading about the sun, the moon, and Mars. It

was a book about . . .

At recess the students got their gloves, bats and balls. What were they likely to do?

During a very severe storm, the electricity went off. Dad lit a match. What did he probably want to find.

Maria had a day off school. She looked in the newspaper to find the best sales. Then she left the house. Where did she probably go?

Jess and his father went walking on a warm spring day. There was a nice breeze in the air. What might Jesse and his father do to have fun? Rake leaves, fly a kit or watch TV?

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chapter 3 reference & inference

Documents

reference inference

reference shumaila

reference relation

purpose of reference

inference layer

george indirect reference

yatch direct inference

inference tahira munir