Informativeness and Instrumentality in Referential Communication

Abstract

Speakers produce verbal utterances in order to achieve certain goals. As a necessary precondition of the instrumentality of a verbal message the listener must be informed about what is meant. But the example of referential communication shows that the structure and content of referential expressions cannot solely be predicted by the principle of instrumentality. The results of three naming experiments show that in addition to totally discriminative attributes—which are necessary and sufficient for unambiguous object identification—other features of the intended object are specified. Two object identification experiments then make clear that speakers tend to overspecify those attributes of a target which facilitate the listener's object search. The consequences of these correspondences for the assumption of a ‘listener-oriented’ strategy of object reference are discussed.