Co-reference

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cohesion means in German

Koreference (also reference identity ) is a term from linguistics and semiotics in general . A co-reference exists when two different linguistic expressions refer to the same thing in an utterance . The producer of this utterance uses the two expressions to refer to the same entity (e.g. to persons, living beings, things, processes or abstract concepts). The two expressions refer to the same thing in this context, that is, they have the same referent . In a text , co-reference relationships are a means of text cohesion .

In the koreference, only non-linguistic objects are mentioned as possible speakers. However, linguistic speakers are also possible, taking into account the possibility of speaking about language .

Coordination can take place within the sentence and across sentence boundaries. Co-reference can be made using independently referring expressions (example: "Angela Merkel (1), the Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany on March 1, 2008 (2) ...") or using relatively referring expressions ( anaphor ) whose direct reference point is another linguistic ( directly referring) expression through which you refer indirectly to a speaker.

Thus, co-reference occurs in particular through a relationship between sentence components , of which one relates to the other, or which are mutually related.

Resumption

Example: In the sentence " Klaus said he was writing for Wikipedia" he and Klaus are co- referees.

Indices can be used for clarification . One also speaks of co-indexing :

  • Klaus i said he i write for Wikipedia.
Here he and Klaus are the co- speakers. The pronoun er in this case is what is known as an anaphor .
  • Klaus i said he k was writing for Wikipedia.
Here he and Klaus are not co-referents. it refers to another person, but must be pointed out beforehand. Otherwise the other form would be used intuitively.
  • Egon k came. Klaus i said he k was writing for Wikipedia.
Here the reference may not be clear. It would also be possible:
  • Egon k came. Klaus i said he i write for Wikipedia.
This can lead to misunderstandings.
  • Klaus i said she k was writing for Wikipedia.
As long as one assumes that Klaus is not a woman, there is no co-reference in this sentence.

If necessary, co-reference can also occur to “empty” categories.

  • Bernd goes into the house. Rolf comes after.
  • Bernd i goes into house k . Rolf comes after (him i ) (into house k ).

literature

  • Roland Harweg: pronouns and text constitution . Fink, Munich 1968.