sum nonreferential np english week two ago sent following query folks linguist interest identifying nonreferential np written english computer natural lg processing system would know set referents serve antecedents subsequent anaphora resolution compounds e g duckshooting season suppose treated superficially single words things like lose faith catch sight course criteria involve larger discourse issues may possible identify least nonreferential np cheaply e looking within clause considering inherent lexical semantics interest also examples like john teacher teacher used introduce new discourse referent rather characterize one already introduced thanks gregory ward marion kee louise mcnally replies comments summarize investigations date comments people ward gregory richard sproat gail mckoon 1991 pragmatic analysis called anaphoric islands language 67 439474 contrary assuming compounds subparts may serve antecedents pronominal anaphora louise mcnally noted first appears languages article systems like english germanic lgs romance lgs mark nonreferentiality absence article e via bare singular commonly bare plural nps although nps may function syntactically like nps articles contrast incorporated nominals semantically pragmatically quite distinct english things complicated fact bare plurals also appear denote natural kinds appears exception rather rule bare nominals languages looked interpretation thus shared incorporated nonincorporated nonreferential nps thus 1 absence article 2 semantics pragmatics would treat bare nominals property denoting alternatively contributing descriptive content whereas treat nps articles entity denoting alternatively contributing descriptive content crucially discourse referent quantificational nps another matter altogether appear differences discourse anaphoric properties nouns compounds like babysitter bare plurals occur independent elements sentences specifically bare nominals much likely felicitously license discourse anaphora token entities opposed kinds nouns inside compounds investigated detail suspect differences involve sorts existential inferences get via use compounds vs full sentences example truthfully describe someone tomato grower time _ _ without tomatoes person growing _ _ contrast true fred grew tomatoes _ _ must tomatoes _ _ grew pair nt justice complexity problem hope gives idea differences one finds conditions applicability nouns descriptions truth sentences marion kee suggested marking phrasal verbs lexicon example catch sight ight nonreferential eminently practical solution thorny problem mandate explore methods automatically identifying nonreferential uses presumably general computationally less expensive searching lexicon given collocations still musing structural cues might used perhaps combination semantic information finally attached brief summary backgrounded object construction roviana w oceanic lg spoken solomon islands currently working sketch gr upcoming volume oceanic lgs construction referring would called antipassive roviana morphosyntactic ergativity really unusual splits cooked taro comes transitive ergative marking actually zero ergative one unusual things transitive morphology verb constituent order vao cooked taro tarocooking comes intransitive marked absolutive constituent order voa transitive morphology verb could say moved verb phrase inclined use dynamic metaphors could make case verb phrase roviana call backgrounded object construction used subordinate clauses morphosyntactic ergativity nt involve marking oblique prepared call antipassive use backgrounded object construction optionally pragmatically backgrounding undergoer discourse coz important ii obligatorily undergoer nonspecific nonspecific mean speaker nt particular ref mind even one might said exist e g tarocooking implies taro exists focusing particular taro exception asserting nonexistence undergoer using prenominal modifier none nothing use normal transitive construction e g nt kill anyone exist person killed transitive nt kill anyone denying action asserting nonexistence referent backgrounded object construction thus transitive construction used undergoer asserted exist b specific pragmatically backgrounded backgrounded obj construction used undergoer b nonspecific asserted exist b specific pragmatically backgrounded roviana articles mark information statuses like definite np backgrounded obj construction however bare noun thanks replied thoughts comments much appreciated simon corston