Referentsselemend

Referentsselemend is a neologistic term proposed in linguistics to denote a theoretical unit that anchors the relationship between an utterance and its referent within a discourse. In this sense, it highlights how speakers realize referents through minimal referential elements that carry linkage across sentences and contexts.

Usage and scope: The term combines the idea of a referent with the element that directly encodes reference in a given utterance. In some discourse-analytic proposals, the referentsselemend is treated as the smallest functional unit that binds a referent to its linguistic expression, distinct from broader referential expressions such as full noun phrases.

Properties and interactions: A referentsselemend may be realized as a pronoun, determiner, demonstrative, or sparse nominal form, depending on position and discourse status. It interacts with deixis, anaphora, and coreference, serving as a pivot for tracking identity of referents across utterances.

Example: In the sequence "The committee approved the proposal. It accepted the revisions," the "It" functions as the referentsselemend that anchors the referent "the committee" across sentences.

Relation to theory and critique: Because the notion remains underspecified across frameworks, some scholars view referentsselemend as overlapping with existing concepts such as referential expressions or coreferential links. Formalization within dynamic semantics or discourse representation theory is proposed for clearer use. See also: referent, deixis, anaphora, coreference.