referent

Definition:

The person, thing, or idea that a word or expression stands for. See also:

• Anaphora (grammar)
• Antecedent
• Broad Reference
• Cataphora
• Exophora
• Indexicality
• Pronoun
• Reference

Etymology:

From the Latin, "carry"

Examples and Observations:

• "In [the transitive verb pattern] (My roommate and I became good friends), the two noun phrases have the same referent: My roommate and I and good friends refer to the same people. We could in fact say

  My roommate and I are good friends,

  using the linking be."
  (Martha Kolln, Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects. 3rd ed., Allyn and Bacon, 1999)



• "[An] aspect of processing reference concerns the interpretation of pronouns. . . . As Just and Carpenter (1987) noted, there are a number of bases for resolving the reference of pronouns:

  1. One of the most straightforward is to use number or gender cues.
  Consider:
  Melvin, Susan, and their children left when (he, she, they) became sleepy.

  Each possible pronoun has a different referent.
  

  2. A syntactic cue to pronominal reference is that pronouns tend to refer to objects in the same grammatical role (e.g., subject versus object).
  Consider:
  Floyd punched Bert and then he kicked him.

  Most people would agree that the subject he refers to Floyd and the object him refers to Bert.
  

  3. There is also a strong recency effect such that the most recent candidate referent is preferred.
  Consider:
  Dorothea ate the pie; Ethel ate cake; later she had coffee.

  Most people would agree that she probably refers to Ethel.
  

  4. Finally, people can use their knowledge of the world to determine reference.
  Compare:
  Tom shouted at Bill because he spilled the coffee.
  Tom shouted at Bill because he had a headache."

  (John Robert Anderson, Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications. Macmillan, 2004)

Pronunciation: REF-er-unt