terminre

Terminre is a neologism used in theoretical linguistics and discourse analysis to denote the terminal referent in a discourse's chain of references. The term is a relatively recent coinage and is not universally standardized. It is intended as a heuristic for describing how a single referent can serve as a stable anchor for subsequent expressions in a text or conversation.

A terminre is identified by observing which referent remains central across a stretch of discourse, such that pronouns and noun phrases converge on it as the primary anchor. Other entities may be mentioned, but they do not become the terminre unless they sustain prominence over time and across sentences.

Example: In the passage, "Maria entered the room. She looked around. The room grew quiet." The terminre would be Maria at the start, while "the room" is another referent that appears later; depending on how the text evolves, the terminre can shift or persist as a local anchor.

Usage and scope: The concept is primarily applied in narrative analysis and dialogue, where tracking a terminre helps explain pronoun resolution and cohesion. It is also discussed in cross-linguistic studies to compare how languages maintain referential anchors.

Criticism and alternatives: Critics argue that referential structure in real texts is fluid and context-dependent, making a single terminre an oversimplification. Alternatives include referential center or anchor term, and analyses based on salience and discourse structure.

See also: anaphora, deixis, discourse coherence, referential center.