Demonstratives as Referring Expressions

Our intention in this paper is to show reference realised by demonstrative forms in three different styles of written discourse: narrative stories (short stories and children's stories), fairytales and biographies where their interpretation depends on the previous and the following text. The aim is to provide answers to the questions: a) which demonstrative forms are more frequent than the others, b) what is the nature of referents they refer to and c) what type of reference they establish and maintain in the three styles. As the analysis has shown, written discourse expresses a preference for the use of singular demonstrative forms, which are more frequently used than plural ones. Demonstrative forms may refer to animate and inanimate entities alike, the former of which being rare and confined to certain styles. Demonstrative forms establish several types of reference, while demonstrative determiners establish progressive, regressive, temporal and associative reference; demonstrative pronouns establish only progressive and regressive reference.