UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 11 (1999)
The referential-attributive distinction
- a cognitive account
GEORGE POWELL
In this paper I approach the referential-attributive distinction in the
interpretation of definite descriptions, originally discussed by Donnellan (1966), from a cognitive perspective grounded in Sperber and Wilson's
Relevance Theory. In particular, I argue that definite descriptions encode a
procedural semantics which is neutral as between referential and attributive
readings, with each reading arising as a result of the differing links that
exist between different mental representations and the world, rather than as a
result of the differing links between language and mental representations.
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