Call for papers

The two-day workshop “Demonstratives and definites in discourse” will take place on May 27-28, 2027 at the University of Bologna and is jointly organized by Chiara Gianollo (University of Bologna) and Klaus von Heusinger (University of Cologne). The workshop is part of the series RED – Referential Expressions in Discourse (https://red.uni-koeln.de), which has taken place on a fairly regular basis since 2010.

In this workshop we intend to investigate the role of different types of demonstratives and definites in the dynamic development of discourse, by means of theoretical modelling, synchronic and diachronic corpus studies, and experimental evidence. We are also interested in the dimensions of cross-linguistic variation connected to these classes of referential expressions, in particular with respect to uses for which comparative evidence is still scarce or unsystematic, like indefinite demonstrative uses and weak definite ones.

Demonstratives and definites show various differences in their referential properties, when considered in individual utterances. Demonstratives are directly referential, scope-neutral, convey a non-uniqueness condition and locational information. Definites identify their referents by means of their descriptive material, show scope interactions, convey a uniqueness condition, but no locational information. Yet, in their anaphoric discourse function, demonstratives and definites are nearly interchangeable. However, they have many more functions in discourse that bring out more differences between them. For instance, demonstratives shift the thematic attention to a new referent, while definites rather continue a given topic or theme. Both types of expressions also allow for first-mentioned referents, but in a very different way. Indefinite demonstratives introduce new (noteworthy) referents, while definites identify new referents in bridging contexts or in so-called weak definite contexts.

In their most typical discourse use, demonstratives and definites anaphorically pick up previously introduced discourse referents. For definites, this contextually satisfies the condition of familiarity and uniqueness imposed by their meaning. For demonstratives, the anaphoric use can be seen as a transposition of their core deictic function into the text (and, in fact, diachronically, anaphoric uses of demonstratives are a typical reanalysis context in their grammaticalization into definite articles). However, demonstratives and definites impose different constraints on their antecedents, so that they are not fully interchangeable (e.g. Kim has a cat. The / this cat is cute but Kim has a cat and a dog. The / #This cat is cute).

The behaviour of demonstratives and definites in discourse is a theoretically significant object of investigation not only in terms of their anaphoric properties, but also considering their ability to introduce new discourse referents. Typically, the introduction of hearer-new material in discourse is performed by means of various types of indefinite nominal phrases. However, first-mention uses are broadly attested for both demonstratives and definites in many languages. 

Some first-mention uses of definites can be reconciled with an extended notion of familiarity and the uniqueness condition, as in bridging, where a new referent is introduced into the context by a linking relation to an anchor. These contexts do not allow demonstratives, and are often taken as a test to distinguish between definites and demonstratives (Kim has a car. The / #This engine is loud). Another group of definites, weak definites (Kim is reading the newspaper) have first-mention uses that are instead challenging with respect to both uniqueness and familiarity (Poesio 1994, Carlson et al. 2006, Aguilar-Guevara & Zwarts 2010, a.o.). Besides not having a referential anchor in context, they have been argued not to build suitable discourse referents for subsequent anaphoric pickup in discourse, and to be therefore discourse-deficient (Aguilar-Guevara & Oggiani 2023). However, their status with respect to anaphoric relations is not settled, as in some languages they actually can represent the anchor of an anaphoric relation (Modarresi & Krifka 2021, 2025). There seem to be different varieties of weak definites, within and across languages. Weak definites also call for a comparison with bare singulars in languages that otherwise display an extensive use of articles (Espinal & McNally 2011, de Swart 2015, Gerards 2022). This, in turn, invites the question of how definite readings are achieved in languages without articles (Dayal 2018, Jenks 2018, Šimík & Demian 2020). Furthermore, the relation between weak definites, genericity and non-definite interpretations of the definite article, observed throughout Romance (Cardinaletti & Giusti 2018, 2020, Giusti 2025, Morosi 2025), remains puzzling and has been the object of much debate recently.

As for demonstratives, their use for the introduction of discourse-new entities can be considered to be very much in line with their function of attention-raising or shifting, but something additional must be said once referent introduction does not take place in a visible situation. Indefinite uses (I was sitting on a bench in the park when this woman approached me) have been observed for various languages (Prince 1981, Wright & Givón 1987, Himmelmann 1996, Gary-Prieur & Léonard 1998, Diessel 1999: 109, 138-139, Ionin 2006, von Heusinger 2011, 2012, von Heusinger and Gianollo 2019). There are good reasons to distinguish them from so-called recognitional uses (In the novel we read last month there is this passage in which the protagonist…), which capitalize on knowledge shared by speaker and hearer, since indefinite demonstratives introduce hearer-new material, for which the hearer is invited to build a new discourse representation.

An interesting comparison concerns the discourse-structuring potential of demonstratives and definites in their anaphoric uses, but also in their function of weak definites or indefinite demonstratives. As mentioned above, due to their interpretational properties, weak definites are not expected to build persistent discourse referents (although it has been observed that in some cases they are the antecedents of anaphoric expressions). Conversely, indefinite demonstratives have been proven to represent a strategy to signal the prominence of the introduced referent in the subsequent discourse.

Given this (non-exhaustive) background, we welcome contributions with a strong theoretical focus addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

-              the functions of demonstratives and definites in discourse in contrast to their non-discourse functions

-              the behaviour of anaphoric demonstratives and definites in discourse, with special attention to discourse-structuring potential (topic shift, foregrounding)

-              the behaviour of non-anaphoric demonstratives and definites in discourse, with special attention to their use in first mentions and to their (forward-looking) discourse-structuring potential

-              experimental evidence concerning properties of definites, demonstratives, and the relation between presence and absence of articles in definite interpretations

-              definite interpretations in languages without articles

-              non-definite interpretations of definite articles and demonstratives

-              diachronic developments affecting demonstratives and definites

Abstract submission

We invite theoretical and empirical contributions for 30-minute presentations, followed by 15 minutes of discussion. Abstracts should be anonymous, written in English, and not longer than two pages (including examples and references), formatted as PDF in Times New Roman 12 pt, single-spaced, with margins of 1 inch/2.5cm. Please submit your abstract by e-mail to: red2027@live.unibo.it no later than December 15, 2026

Important dates

Call for papers: October 11, 2026
Abstract submission deadline: December 15, 2026
Notification of decision: by January 25, 2027
Conference dates: May 27-28, 2027

References

Aguilar-Guevara, Ana and Joost Zwarts. 2010. Weak definites and reference to kinds. In N. Li and D. Lutz (eds.), Proceedings of SALT 20, 179–196. Linguistic Society of America.

Aguilar-Guevara, Ana and Carolina Oggiani. 2023. Weak definite nominals. Language and Linguistics Compass, e12503, 1–21.

Cardinaletti, Anna and Giuliana Giusti. 2018. Indefinite determiners: Variation and optionality in Italo-Romance. In Roberta D’Alessandro and Diego Pescarini (eds.), Advances in Italian Dialectology: Sketches of Italo-Romance Grammars, vol. 1. Amsterdam: Brill, 135–161.

Cardinaletti, Anna and Giuliana Giusti. 2020. Indefinite determiners in informal Italian: A preliminary analysis. Linguistics 58, 679–712.

Carlson, Greg, Rachel Sussman, Natalie Klein and Michael Tanenhaus. 2006. Weak definite noun phrases. In Christopher Davis, Amy Rose Deal and Youri Zabbal (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 36, 179–196.

Dayal, Veneeta. 2018. (In)definiteness without articles: Diagnosis, analysis, implications. In Ghanshyam Sharma and Rajesh Bhatt (eds.), Trends in Hindi Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1–26.

Diessel, Holger. 1999. Demonstratives: Form, function, and grammaticalization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Espinal, M. Teresa and Louise McNally. 2011. Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Catalan and Spanish. Journal of Linguistics 47(1), 87–128.

Gary-Prieur, Marie-Noëlle and Martine Léonard. 1998. Le démonstratif dans les textes et dans la langue. Langue française 120, 5–20.

Gerards, David P. and Elisabeth Stark. 2022. Non-maximal definites in Romance. Isogloss 8(5), 1–32.

Giusti, Giuliana. 2025. On (in)definite ART in Italian and Italo-Romance varieties. Intercultural Pragmatics 22(3), 545–570.

Hawkins, John A. 1978. Definiteness and indefiniteness: A study in reference and grammaticality prediction. London: Croom Helm.

von Heusinger, Klaus. 2011. Specificity, referentiality and discourse prominence: German indefinite demonstratives. In Ingo Reich, Eva Horch and Dennis Pauly (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 15. Saarbrücken: Saarland University Press, 9–30.

von Heusinger, Klaus. 2012. Referentialität, Spezifizität und Diskursprominenz im Sprachvergleich am Beispiel von indefiniten Demonstrativpronomen. In Lutz Gunkel and Gisela Zifonun (eds.), Deutsch im Sprachvergleich – Grammatische Kontraste und Konvergenzen. Berlin: De Gruyter, 417–456.

von Heusinger, Klaus and Chiara Gianollo. 2019. Indefinite demonstratives – between indefiniteness and referentiality. Presentation at Romanistentag, Kassel, 30 September 2019.

Himmelmann, Nikolaus. 1996. Demonstratives in narrative discourse: A taxonomy of universal uses. In Barbara A. Fox (ed.), Studies in Anaphora. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 203–252.

Ionin, Tania. 2006. This is definitely specific: Specificity and definiteness in article systems. Natural Language Semantics 14, 175–234.

Jenks, Peter. 2018. Articulated definiteness without articles. Linguistic Inquiry 49, 501–536.

Modarresi, Fereshteh and Manfred Krifka. 2021. Pseudo incorporation and anaphoricity: Evidence from Persian. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics 6(1), 1–32.

Modarresi, Fereshteh and Manfred Krifka. 2025. Anaphoric potential of weak definites contrasted with implicit entities and indefinites in German. Presentation at RED 2025, University of Graz.

Morosi, Paolo. 2025. Numberless indefinite definites in Italian: Structure and meaning. Isogloss 11(7), 1–35.

Poesio, Massimo. 1994. Weak definites. In Mandey Harvey and Lynn Santelmann (eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory. Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications, 282–299.

Prince, Ellen. 1981. On the inferencing of indefinite-this NPs. In Aravind Joshi, Bonnie Webber and Ivan Sag (eds.), Elements of Discourse Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 231–250.

Šimík, Radek and Christoph Demian. 2020. Definiteness, uniqueness, and maximality in languages with and without articles. Journal of Semantics 37(3), 311–366.

de Swart, Henriëtte. 2015. Constructions with and without articles. In Olga Borik and Berit Gehrke (eds.), The Syntax and Semantics of Pseudo-Incorporation (Syntax and Semantics 40). Leiden: Brill, 126–156.

Wright, Sue E. and Talmy Givón. 1987. The pragmatics of indefinite reference: Quantified text-based studies. Studies in Language 11, 1–33.