latermentioned

Latermentioned is a term used in discourse analysis and stylistics to describe a cross-reference pattern in which the referent of a noun or concept is introduced non-specifically or in general terms, and its exact name or identifier is supplied later in the text. The term is a neologism that appears in scholarly writings and corpus studies to label this particular sequencing of references.

It differs from immediate naming and from cataphora. In latermentioned usage, the initial mention may be vague or descriptive (for example, "a new policy"), and the precise label ("the policy") or official name is provided in a subsequent sentence. This pattern can occur within a single paragraph or across multiple sentences, contributing to textual cohesion by deferring explicit identification until enough context has accumulated.

Examples: "A new policy was proposed to address the budget issue. The policy would require adoption by mid-year." Here, the referent is introduced generically before being named. Another example: "An initiative to streamline services was discussed. The initiative, later named Project Atlas, would consolidate several programs."

Applications and implications: Latermentioned can be relevant in literary analysis, instructional writing, and computational linguistics, where detecting delayed naming helps models track referents and assess text readability. It also informs pedagogy on how to maintain clarity when delaying the identification of entities.

See also: anaphora, coreference, cataphora, discourse cohesion.