The role of potential referential conflict in the choice of a referring expression

Olga V. Fedorova

Published: June 1, 2014

The present survey focuses on the phenomenon of referential ambiguity, or referential conflict, i.e., the discourse situation in which two or more referents are activated high enough to be chosen the antecedent of a reduced referring expression. While permanent ambiguity occurs occasionally and is quite uncommon, potential ambiguity is pervasive in language and, thus, should be thoroughly studied. In addition to proposing the typology of referential conflicts, this study seeks to give an explanation of the effects related to the potential referential conflicts that are described in the literature. It proposes a model of the referential conflict that accounts for …