Deferred Reference

By Jeffrey C. King

'Deferred reference' is the name given to the phenomenon whereby a speaker uses a singular term (for example, a pronoun or a name) to call the audience's attention to one object in order to make some other object the semantic value in context of the singular term. This book argues that non-referring contextually sensitive expressions exhibit a phenomenon very similar to deferred reference. Having introduced deferred reference and offered criticisms of existing accounts, which restrict deferred reference to pronomial expressions only, Jeffrey C. King offers a positive account that encompasses from singular terms and definite descriptions, and goes on to argue that tense, adverbs, gradable adjectives, and possessives also give rise to a phenomenon very much like deferred reference. Deferred reference is therefore shown simply to be a special case of this more general phenomenon.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0197915183
• ISBN13: 9780197915189
• Release Date: February 2027
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Dimensions: 5.4" x 8.5"