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Equatives and Deferred Reference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2026

Gregory Ward
Gregory Ward*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
*
Department of Linguistics, Northwestern University, 2016 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-4090 [gw@northwestern.edu]
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Abstract

Previous accounts of DEFERRED REFERENCE (e.g. Nunberg 1995) have argued that all (nonostensive) deferred reference is the result of MEANING TRANSFER, a shift in the sense of a nominal or predicate expression. An analysis of deferred equatives (I'm the pad thai) suggests an alternative account based on the notion of PRAGMATIC MAPPING: a contextually licensed mapping operation between (sets of) discourse entities, neither of which undergoes a transfer of meaning. Moreover, the use of a deferred equative requires the presence of a contextually licensed OPEN PROPOSITION whose instantiation encodes the particular mapping between entities, both of which remain accessible to varying degrees within the discourse model. Finally, it is shown how a complete account of deferred reference must provide for transfers of reference as well as sense.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 80 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 262 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Linguistic Society of America

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