Reference as Interaction: Practices for Referent Recognition in Japanese Conversation

This paper deals with some practices for referent recognition in Japanese conversation to show that the reference is established through the interactive activities. It also discusses how the interactional establishment of referent recognition contributes to the achievement of the goals of conversation. In particular, two types of practices for referent recognition are focused on in this paper. One is what has been called "reference negotiation" in the previous studies. When the speaker refers to something with a particular reference form based on his/her assumption about the recipient's knowledge of the referent but is not certain whether or not the recipient can recognize it with that expression, he/she tries to get a response from the recipient, which confirms that the recipient can recognize it. The other type of practice is performed when the speaker introduces a new referent, which he/she assumes the recipient does not know anything about. In both types of practices preference structure can be observed. If the speaker can get a preferred response from the recipient, he/she goes on to execute an intended main activity. If the speaker cannot get a preferred response from the recipient which confirms that his/her assumption about the recipient is appropriate, he/she modifies the assumption and provides different kinds of referring expressions until he/she gets the recipient's response. These practices demonstrate the need for cooperation between the speaker and the recipient in establishing recognition of referents. This establishment, in turn, is essential to the achievement of the main activities in conversation.