Definiteness in textual and discursive reference: a functionalist view - DOI: 10.4025/actascihumansoc.v29i2.729

Abstract

The description of referential processes – semantic, pragmatic and cognitive – is provided. Descriptions defined by the definite article interpret the definiteness in the textual and discursive reference. A theoretical and analytic apparatus is thus constructed that accounts for the designative nature of definite descriptions with regard to their concrete/abstract qualities; with referentiating operations, or rather, referential retrieval, remission and construction; with cognitive and pragmatic and discursive sources that establish the bases of definiteness interpreted by a definite description. The referential description of a corpus of 207 definite descriptions taken from a text in rhetorical literature is provided. The main premise, based on quantitative data with 140 definite descriptions (67.6%) from the active archive, is that the definiteness of a definite expression is not a priori established, but is built within the inner core of discursiveness.