Bezuglichkeit

Bezuglichkeit, in linguistics and semantics, refers to the property of an expression to refer to a specific entity or set of entities within a discourse or in the real world. An expression with high Bezuglichkeit points to a particular referent that can be identified, while one with low Bezuglichkeit does not foreground a definite individual or may only convey a property or sense.

Bezuglichkeit is commonly discussed in connection with referential expressions such as proper names, definite noun phrases, and pronouns whose antecedents are accessible in the current discourse. Indefinite expressions or non-referential phrases tend to have lower Bezuglichkeit unless a referent is established by context. The concept is closely related to deixis and anaphora: deictic terms depend on the speaker’s situation for referents, and anaphoric expressions require a prior discourse referent to be resolved, reflecting the dynamics of Bezuglichkeit in communication.

In discourse and information structure, high Bezuglichkeit helps ground listeners in a known referent, guiding topic focus and coherence. Low Bezuglichkeit often introduces new information or general statements whose reference is not yet specified. Cross-linguistically, languages vary in how they encode or rely on Bezuglichkeit; some use morphosyntactic cues to signal referentiality, while others depend more on context and discourseParticipants.

Bezuglichkeit is relevant beyond theory, influencing fields such as discourse analysis, translation, and natural language processing, where accurate coreference resolution and referent tracking depend on assessing the degree of referentiality of expressions.

See also: reference, referentiality, deixis, anaphora, coreference.