While it is clear that no referring expression is devoid of semantic meaning (he has the sense of something singular and usually male; the pro-form do of some kind of action etc.), definite expressions, deictic expressions and anaphoric expressions depend in large part for their full meaning on both the hearer working out the relevant referents, the speaker choosing referring expressions to nudge the target’s understanding in the relevant direction, and both the speaker and the hearer collaborating in these processes. This is why they are both a semantic and a pragmatic phenomenon. We should also remember that referring expression forms do not always refer (it, the second word of this paragraph, for example, is not referring). We need to work out when they do and when they do not. The converse is also the case: sometimes non-referring expressions refer. We will focus on the uses and understandings of referring expressions in interaction. We have pointed out that referring expressions are not simply empty slots filled with contextual information. Those referring expressions can, and often do, trigger the relevant contextual information with which they are filled. They can be used for a range of functions, including the expression of psychological prominence or a particular viewpoint. We discussed how speakers select particular referring expressions according to their assumptions about the degree to which the referent is in the target’s mind’s eye. In turn, hearers interpret those referring expressions in part by taking into consideration what is implied by the speaker’s particular selection. We also introduced common ground and its role in influencing the selection of referring expressions and retrieval of referents. Finally, we focused on the dynamic and emergent characteristics of referring in interaction, including the exploitation of referring expressions, for example by choosing less obvious referring expressions to signal a particular interpersonal meaning such as relative power.

As far as English is concerned we have shown how, especially in our reflection boxes, some features that are common to many Englishes, such as the definite article, do not appear in other languages, and even within English English may have been different in the past. We have not only touched on contrasts with other languages, but also variation amongst Englishes and within a particular English. We also considered variation within speech and in writing. Apart from the obvious conclusion that discussions of workings of referring expressions cannot be based on data sets consisting just of English referring expressions, we should note that the way in which those expressions vary is a particular source of interest in its own right, whether it is accounting for changes from demonstratives to definite articles in terms of grammaticalisation, differences amongst written genres, or the role that referring expressions undertake in cueing their own interpretive frames. In fact, to fully understand the phenomena constituted by referring expressions we need to understand that variation.

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