A Review of the Linguistic Research on Definite Descriptions
Renata Vieira
1.Introduction
We present in this paper a review on the linguistic literature on the types of uses of definite descriptions (noun phrases with the definite article the). Definite descriptions have been studied extensively by linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and computational linguists. The theories discussed in this paper help us to understand the problem of interpreting definite descriptions. We look at research studying the various ways in which definite descriptions relate to their antecedents and/or to the context. We compare terms referring to the various types of uses of definite descriptions by presenting tables that relate examples of definite description use to different terminology, according to different authors.
This review is mainly motivated by the necessity of understanding the role of definite descriptions for co-reference processing. Co-reference processing has been one main issue in natural language processing, artificial intelligence and computational linguists. It has direct applications in the field of information extraction. Much work has been done in anaphora resolution, and usually definite descriptions are considered as a special case of anaphora and their treatment is included in general frameworks that mainly deal with pronouns. The work presented here aims to provide a concise material reviewing several works on the use of definite descriptions revealing the complexity of the problem, which we believe to deserve a particular treatment of its own.
2. Hawkins' descriptive list of the uses of the definite article
The wide range of uses of definite descriptions was already highlighted in (Christopherson, 1939). In the third chapter of his book, Hawkins (1978) further develops and extends Christopherson's descriptive analysis. According to Hawkins, the definite article may be used on the basis of a discourse antecedent (anaphoric and associative anaphoric uses) as well as independently from the previous discourse (situational, unfamiliar with explanatory modifiers and unexplanatory modifier uses). We present below Hawkins' taxonomy. The examples are often repeated from or similar to those in (Hawkins, 1978).
Anaphoric Use
These are definite descriptions that refer back to an antecedent in the discourse (both description and antecedent evoke the same entity).
1.
(a) Fred was discussing an interesting book in his class. I went to discuss the book with him afterwards.
(b) Fred was wearing trousers. The pants had a big patch on them.
(c) Bill was working at a lathe the other day. All of a sudden the machine stopped turning.
(d) Mary travelled to Paris. The journey lasted six hours.
(e) A man and a woman entered restaurant. The couple was received by a waiter.
As seen in the examples, a definite description may use the same descriptive predicate as its antecedent, or any other capable of indicating the same antecedent (e.g., a synonym, a hyponym, a nominalization, summation, etc.).
Associative Anaphoric Use
Speaker and hearer may have (shared) knowledge of the relations between certain objects evoked by the discourse (the triggers) and their components or attributes (the associates): associative anaphoric uses of definite descriptions exploit this knowledge.
2.
(a) Bill drove past our house in a car. The exhaust fumes were terrible.
(b) Bill bought a new car to please Mary but she didn't like the colour.
(c) Fred was discussing an interesting book in his class. He knows the author.
(d) I went to a wedding last weekend. The bride was a friend of mine. She baked the cake herself.
Immediate Situation Use
The next two uses of definite descriptions identified by Hawkins are used to refer to an object in the situation of utterance. The referent may be visible, or its presence may be inferred.
Visible situation use This type of use occurs when the object referred to is visible to both speaker and hearer, as in the following examples:
3.
(a) Please, pass me the salt.
(b) Put it on the table.
Immediate situation use These are definite descriptions whose referent is a constituent of the immediate situation in which the use of the definite description is located, without necessarily being visible. This use is commonly found in notices such as:
4.
(a) Beware of the dog.
(b) Don't feed the pony.
At the same time the hearer is informed of the existence of these objects, he is also being instructed to use the immediate situation of utterance to determine which dog or pony is meant.
Larger Situation Uses
Hawkins lists two classes of definite descriptions that are used in situations in which the speaker appeals to the hearer's knowledge of entities existing in the non-immediate or larger situation of utterance---knowledge they share by being members of the same community,
for instance. Whereas in associative anaphoric uses the trigger is a NP introduced in the discourse, in larger situation uses the trigger is the situation itself.
Specific knowledge in the larger situation This is the case in which both the speaker and the hearer know about the existence of the referent, as in the example below, in which it is assumed that speaker and hearer are both inhabitants of Halifax, a town which has a gibbet at the top of Gibbet Street:
5. The Gibbet no longer stands.
General knowledge in the larger situation use Specific knowledge is not a necessary part of the meaning of definite descriptions in larger situation uses. While some hearers may have specific knowledge about the actual inpiduals referred to by a definite description, others may not. General knowledge about the existence of certain types of objects in certain types of situations is sufficient. An example is the following utterance in the context of a wedding (as first utterance between two people):
6. Have you seen the bridesmaids?
Such a first mention of the bridesmaids is possible on the basis of the knowledge that weddings typically have bridesmaids. In the same way, a first mention of the bride, the church service, or the best man would be possible. Note, however, that background knowledge may be different from inpidual to inpidual: one hearer might rely on his specific knowledge of a particular referent to interpret a description, whereas the other relies on his general knowledge to interpret the same description.
Unfamiliar Uses with Explanatory Modifiers
Hawkins classifies as unfamiliar those definite descriptions that are not anaphoric, do not rely on information about the situation of utterance, and are not associates of some trigger in the previous discourse. Hawkins groups these definite descriptions in classes according to their syntactic and lexical properties, as follows.
NP complements One form of unfamiliar definite descriptions is characterised by the presence of a complement to the head noun.
7.
(a) Bill is amazed by the fact that there is so much life on Earth.
(b) The philosophical aphasic came to the conclusion that language did not exist.
(c) Fleet Street has been buzzing with the rumour that the Prime Minister is going to resign.
(d) I remember the time when I was a little girl.
Nominal modifiers The presence of a nominal modifier is, according to Hawkins, the distinguishing feature of these phrases.
8.
(a) I don't like the colour red.
(b) The number seven is my lucky number.
Referent establishing relative clauses Relative clauses may establish a referent for the hearer without a previous mention, when the relative clause refers to something mutually known.
9.
(a) What's wrong with Bill? Oh, the woman he went out with last night was nasty to him. (But: ?? Oh, the woman was nasty to him.)
(b) ...the box (that is) over there.
Associative clauses Associative clauses incorporate both the trigger and the associate of an associative anaphoric sequence. The modifiers of the head noun specify the referent with which the definite description is associated.
