Semantics: a coursebook, second edition

PA RT  T WO
From reference . . .
74
to be already present in the context of the passage. You should 
find 15
such de
finite expressions altogether.
1 There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the
March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it; a Dormouse was sitting
3 between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion,
resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. ‘Very uncomfort-
5 able for the dormouse’, thought Alice; ‘only, as it’s asleep, I suppose it
doesn’t mind.’
(2) The word it occurs 5 times in this passage. To which di
fferent things does
it refer?
..........................................................................................................................
(3) Is there ever any doubt in this passage about the referent of
any occurrence of it?
Yes / No
(4) Who does them in line 3 refer to?
..........................................................................................................................
(5) Four things (or people) referred to by de
finite referring expressions in
this passage must be presumed to be already in the context at the very
beginning of the passage, i.e. they are not introduced during the passage.
Which are they?
..........................................................................................................................
(6) Two things referred to by de
finite referring expressions in this passage are
actually introduced into the context during the passage. Which are they?
..........................................................................................................................
Feedback
(1) line 1, the house; line 2, the March Hare, the Hatter, it; line 3, them, the 
other two, it; line 4, their elbows, it, its head; line 5, the dormouse, Alice, it, I,
it (2) the table and the dormouse (3) No (4) the March Hare and the
Hatter (5) the house, the March Hare, the Hatter, and Alice (6) the table
and the dormouse
Comment This passage from Alice in Wonderland is written in a very simple
straightforward narrative style, in which things are introduced into the
context by means of inde
finite expressions, e.g. a table, a tree, a dormouse,
and subsequently referred to with de
finite expressions, e.g. it, the dormouse.
This kind of structure is actually only found in the simplest style. More
often, authors begin a narrative using a number of de
finite referring
expressions. This stylistic device has the e
ffect of drawing the reader into the
narrative fast, by giving the impression that the writer and the reader already
share a number of contextual assumptions. We give an example in the next
exercise.

U N I T   7
Deixis and definiteness
75
Practice Given below are the opening sentences of John Fowles’ novel The Collector.
When she was home from her boarding-school I used to see her almost
every day sometimes, because their house was right opposite the Town Hall
Annexe. She and her younger sister used to go in and out a lot, often with
young men, which of course I didn’t like. When I had a free moment from
the 
files and ledgers I stood by the window and used to look down over the
road over the frosting and sometimes I’d see her.
(1) Is the reader given any idea who ‘she’ is before she is 
introduced?
Yes / No
(2) Does the mention of ‘their house’ give the impression that 
‘they’ are in some way already known to the reader?
Yes / No
(3) Does mention of ‘the 
files and ledgers’ give the impression 
that the reader should know which 
files and ledgers are 
being referred to, or at least give the impression that the 
reader should know more about them than just that they 
are 
files and ledgers?
Yes / No
(4) In normal conversation, if a person was recounting 
some story, would he usually begin a narrative using 
she without indicating in advance who he was talking 
about?
Yes / No
(5) Is the use of de
finite referring expressions in the above 
passage di
fferent from conventional usage in the opening 
stages of everyday conversations?
Yes / No
Feedback
(1) No (2) Yes (3) Yes (4) No (5) Yes
Comment Novelists typically use de
finiteness in strikingly abnormal ways in the
opening passages of novels – ‘abnormal’, that is, from the point of view of
everyday conversation.
The three main types of de
finite noun phrase in English are (1) Proper
names, e.g. John, Queen Victoria, (2) personal pronouns, e.g. he, she, it, and
(3) phrases introduced by a de
finite determiner, such as the, that, this (e.g. the
table, this book, those men). By contrast, expressions like a man, someone, and
one are all inde
finite.
It follows from our de
finition of definiteness (p. 73) that all definite noun
phrases are referring expressions. But you must be careful not to assume that
every noun phrase using the so-called ‘de
finite article’ the is necessarily
semantically de
finite. In generic sentences (Unit 6), for example, and in other
cases, one can 
find a phrase beginning with the where the hearer cannot be
expected to identify the referent, often because there is in fact no referent, the
expression not being a referring expression.

PA RT  T WO
From reference . . .
76
Practice (1) In the sentence The whale is a mammal, as most typically used, which

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