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In many of the preceding examples, our ability to identify intended referents has actually
depended on more than our understanding of the referring expression. It has been aided by the
linguistic material, or co-text, accompanying the referring expres-sion. When [8a.] appeared as
a headline, 'Brazil' was a referring expression and 'wins World Cup' was part of the co-text (the
rest of the newspaper was more co-text). The co-text clearly limits the range of possible
interpretations we might have for a word like 'Brazil'. It is consequently misleading to think of
reference being understood solely in terms of our ability to identify referents via the referring
expression. The referring expression actually pro-vides a range of reference, that is, a number
of possible referents. Returning to a previous example, we can show that, while the phrase 'the
cheese sandwich' stays the same, the different co-texts in [9a.] and [9b.] lead to a different
type of interpretation in each case (i. e. 'food' in [9a.] and 'person' in [9b.]).

[9] a. The cheese sandwich is made with white bread.
b. The cheese sandwich left without paying.

Of course, co-text is just a linguistic part of the environment in which a referring
expression is used. The physical environment, or context, is perhaps more easily recognized
as having a powerful impact on how referring expressions are to be interpreted. The physical
context of a restaurant, and perhaps even the speech conventions of those who work there,
may be crucial to the interpretation of [9b.]. Similarly, it is useful to know that a hospital is the
context for [І0а.], a dentist's office for [10b.], and a hotel reception for [І0c.].

[10] a. The heart-attack mustn't be moved.
b. Your ten-thirty just cancelled.
c. A couple of rooms have complained about the heat.

The examples in [10] provide some support for an analysis of reference that depends
on local context and the local knowledge of the participants. It may crucially depend on
familiarity with the local socio-cultural conventions as the basis for inference (for example, if a
person is in a hospital with an illness, then he or she can be identified by nurses via the name
of the illness). These con-ventions may differ substantially from one social group to another
and may be marked differently from one language to another. Reference, then, is not simply a
relationship between the meaning of a word or phrase and an object or person in the world. It is
a social act, in which the speaker assumes that the word or phrase chosen to identify an object
or person will be interpreted as the speaker intended.

Anaphoric reference
The preceding discussion has been concerned with single acts of reference. In most of
our talk and writing, however, we have to keep track of who or what we are talking about for
more than one sentence at a time. After the initial introduction of some entity, speakers will use
various expressions to maintain reference, as in [ІІ].
[ІІ] In the film, a man and a woman were trying to wash a cat.
The man was holding the cat while the woman poured water
on it. He said something to her and they started laughing.

In English, initial reference, or introductory mention, is often indefinite ('a man', 'a
woman', 'a cat'). In [ІІ] the definite noun phrases ('the man', 'the cat', 'the woman') and the